Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy: as a squash is before 'tis a peascod, or a codling when 'tis almost an apple. 'Tis with him in standing water, between boy and man.

Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy: as a squash is before ’tis a peascod, or a codling when ’tis almost an apple. ‘Tis with him in standing water, between boy and man.

– William Shakespeare

Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 5. Cesario (Viola dressed as a young man) arrives as a messenger to Lady Olivia’s house. Malvolio describes him to Olivia as not quite a man, yet not exactly a boy. Not ripe enough to be a man, he suggests.

William Shakespeare Quotes