Animal Farm - George Orwell (1945)
10 Key Quotes
1. “Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are
miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep
the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last
atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are
slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness
or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery
and slavery: that is the plain truth.”
2. “But is this simply part of the order of nature?”
3. “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.”
4. “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.”
5. “Man serves the interests of no creature except himself.”
6. “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a
friend.”
7. “A bird’s wing, comrades,” he said, “is an organ of propulsion and not of manipulation. It
should therefore be regarded as a leg. The distinguishing mark of man is the HAND, the
instrument with which he does all his mischief.”
8. “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals
themselves any richer - except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs.”
9. “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN
OTHERS”
10. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man
again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
10 Key Quotes
1. “Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are
miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep
the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last
atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are
slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness
or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery
and slavery: that is the plain truth.”
2. “But is this simply part of the order of nature?”
3. “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.”
4. “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.”
5. “Man serves the interests of no creature except himself.”
6. “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a
friend.”
7. “A bird’s wing, comrades,” he said, “is an organ of propulsion and not of manipulation. It
should therefore be regarded as a leg. The distinguishing mark of man is the HAND, the
instrument with which he does all his mischief.”
8. “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals
themselves any richer - except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs.”
9. “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN
OTHERS”
10. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man
again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
