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The Great Gatsby
Hamlet

Animal Farm Quotes

Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. From the opening words of the novel, it is clear that Mr. Jones is a drunk and uncaring farm owner. Jones is modeled on the last Czar of Russia, Nicholas II.

Our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major, who is a wise and persuasive pig, addresses the animals.

No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major, on the tyranny of man towards animals.

There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word – Man. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major believes that man is totally to blame for all the animals’ ills.

Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major tells the animals that humans force them to work and give away their produce. Not a pretty picture of animal life under Mr. Jones.

What then must we do? Why, work night and day, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race! That is my message to you, comrades: Rebellion!

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major urges the animals to rise up against their human masters.

As for the dogs, when they grow old and toothless, Jones ties a brick round their necks and drowns them in the nearest pond.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major on how the cruel Mr. Jones drowns the dogs when they grow old instead of looking after them.

Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest, that the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. It is all lies.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major suggests that humans cannot be trusted.

george orwell man selfish quote

Man serves the interests of no creature except himself.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major doesn’t sugarcoat it when he gives his opinion on the inequality between men and animals.

All men are enemies. All animals are comrades - George Orwell Animal Farm quote

All men are enemies. All animals are comrades.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major.

The vote was taken at once, and it was agreed by an overwhelming majority that rats were comrades. There were only four dissentients, the three dogs and the cat, who was afterwards discovered to have voted on both sides.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1.

Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major.

Remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not come to resemble him.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major’s ironic warning, which is ignored by Napoleon and his fellow pigs who become like humans at the end of the novel.

Even when you have conquered him, do not adopt his vices. No animal must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade. All the habits of Man are evil.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major.

And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No animal must ever kill any other animal. All animals are equal.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. Old Major.

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken to my joyful tidings
Of the golden future time.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. First verse of a song Old Major remembers his mother singing when he was young. He teaches it to the other animals and it becomes their anthem.

He seized the gun which always stood in a corner of his bedroom, and let fly a charge of Number 6 shot into the darkness. The pellets buried themselves in the wall of the barn and the meeting broke up hurriedly. Everyone fled to his own sleeping-place. The birds jumped onto their perches, the animals settled down in the straw, and the whole farm was asleep in a moment.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 1. After Old Major’s rebellion speech, a reminder that Mr. Jones is very much in charge and is indeed a tyrant.

The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 2. A brilliant talker Squealer the pig is Napoleon’s propaganda machine.

At the beginning they met with much stupidity and apathy. Some of the animals talked of the duty of loyalty to Mr. Jones, whom they referred to as “Master,” or made elementary remarks such as “Mr. Jones feeds us. If he were gone, we should starve to death.”

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 2. Leaderless after the death of Old Major, the animals were not all in agreement at meetings to discuss the coming rebellion. Some were fearful of life after Mr. Jones.

“Comrade,” said Snowball, “those ribbons that you are so devoted to are the badge of slavery. Can you not understand that liberty is worth more than ribbons?”

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 2. Snowball’s answer to Mollie when she asked about wearing ribbons. Snowball is the pig who will later challenge Napoleon for control of Animal Farm after the Rebellion.

The pigs had an even harder struggle to counteract the lies put about by Moses, the tame raven. Moses, who was Mr. Jones’s especial pet, was a spy and a tale-bearer, but he was also a clever talker. He claimed to know of the existence of a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain, to which all animals went when they died.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 2. Moses promises immortality in the form of Sugarcandy Mountain. It is the animal version of heaven, with clover in season all year and lump sugar growing on hedges.

Napoleon sent for pots of black and white paint and led the way down to the five-barred gate that gave on to the main road. Then Snowball (for it was Snowball who was best at writing) took a brush between the two knuckles of his trotter, painted out MANOR FARM from the top bar of the gate and in its place painted ANIMAL FARM. This was to be the name of the farm from now onwards.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 2.

THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 2. The pigs reduced the principles of Animalism to Seven Commandment. These were inscribed on the wall in large white letters by Snowball with Squealer holding the paint-pot. They would form an unalterable law by which all animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after.

The animals were happy as they had never conceived it possible to be. Every mouthful of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food, produced by themselves and for themselves, not doled out to them by a grudging master.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 3.

His answer to every problem, every setback, was “I will work harder!” – which he had adopted as his personal motto.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 3. The hardworking cart-horse Boxer, who has incredible strength.

Nobody stole, nobody grumbled over his rations, the quarreling and biting and jealousy which had been normal features of life in the old days had almost disappeared.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 3.

Old Benjamin, the donkey, seemed quite unchanged since the Rebellion. He did his work in the same slow obstinate way as he had done it in Jones’s time, never shirking and never volunteering for extra work either. About the Rebellion and its results he would express no opinion. When asked whether he was not happier now that Jones was gone, he would say only “Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey,” and the others had to be content with this cryptic answer.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 3.

The flag was green, Snowball explained, to represent the green fields of England, while the hoof and horn signified the future Republic of the Animals which would arise when the human race had been finally overthrown.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 3.

FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 3. Maxim devised by Snowball.

The mystery of where the milk went to was soon cleared up. It was mixed every day into the pigs’ mash.

– George Orwell

Animal Farm. Chapter 3. The case of the disappearing milk!

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