What Makes a Man a Man?

[kolakoski]

Well met!

I'm still trying to figure this one out.

[caps]

What differentiates a man from a boy? Or what differentiates a man from a woman? I assume you're asking the first question.

[dok]

The Big Lebowski: What makes a man, Mr. Lebowski?
The Dude: Dude.
The Big Lebowski: Huh?
The Dude: Uhh... I don't know sir.
The Big Lebowski: Is it being prepared to do the right thing, whatever the cost? Isn't that what makes a man?
The Dude: Hmmm... Sure, that and a pair of testicles.

[Yodaking]

A man steps up to the plate when called upon and is responsible for his actions.

[I Hate Atlaga]

Not exactly a full answer, but as a wise friend of mine once said:

"Swag is for boys, class is for men."

[Eraguy816]

I think a man is someone who helps without asking and is good to those in need.
But don't rush into it take your time.

[Rich10]

Martin Luther King, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Jesse Jackson, ""You're not a man because you can kill somebody. You are not a man because you can make a baby.… You're a man only if you can raise a baby, protect a baby and provide for a baby."

Winston Churchill, "A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality."

William Shakespeare. "What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god."

Friedrich Nietzsche, "In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play."

Steve Jobs, "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me."

Henry David Thoreau, "It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate."

Nelson Mandela, "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

Ernest Hemingway, "A man can be destroyed but not defeated."

Robert Bly, "By the time a man is 35 he knows that the images of the right man, the tough man, the true man which he received in high school do not work in life."

[Schulzy]

In the Maasai culture, a boy must kill a lion at age 22 in order to become a man and get married.

In that context, I don't think any of us are men...

That said, I really don't know. I'm a 24 year old boy.

[Swamper]

Look down your pants. If you have a pair, you're either a man already, or you have the potential to be a man.

[Claws of Death]

A true man is someone who does what he believes is the right or moral thing to do and is viewed as a responsible role model by others and his children.

[Crypto-Knight]

Walk away from a fight. With dignity and integrity. I have almost been killed enough times to prove this. Walk away. Walk away and take care of your own business. You have responsibilities. Do that. Trust a man who has scars all over his face.

[Typhon2222]

Not caring whether other men are "real men" or not.