The most famous quotation from the Bartje books come in the story in which the family are sitting down to a meal. They are going to eat brown beans. Bartje hates brown beans and pulls his empty plate away when his mother wants to give him some. He refuses to say grace (to say a prayer to thank God for the food they are about to eat) and he says: "Ik bid nie veur bruune boon'n " (in modern Dutch: "Ik bid niet voor bruine bonen", meaning: "I don’t pray for brown beans"). His parents are shocked and he gets into big trouble.