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Famous Quotes
Here are examples of some of the most famous quotes from William Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954). These will help you gain a deeper understanding of this important and disturbing work, which explores the complex themes of culture, the desire for social and political order, and human nature.
"'I don't care what [you] call me so long as . . . [it's not] what they used to call me in school . . . They used to call me Piggy!'" Chapter 1
"The creature was a party of boys, marching . . . " Chapter 1
"'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.'" Chapter 2
"The candle-buds opened their wide white flowers . . . .Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island." Chapter 3
"Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for the fruit they could not reach . . . passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands." Chapter 3
"He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling." Chapter 4
"'Life . . . is scientific . . . .I know there isn't no beast . . . but I know there isn't no fear, either . . . .Unless we get frightened of people.'" Chapter 5
"'[F]ear can't hurt you any more than a dream. There aren't any beasts to be afraid of on this island . . . .Serve you right if something did get you, you useless lot of cry-babies!" Chapter 5
"'Maybe there is a beast . . . .maybe it's only us.'" Chapter 5
"The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away." Chapter 5
"The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering." Chapter 7
"Ralph . . . would treat the day's decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player." Chapter 7
"Piggy was . . . so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society, that he helped to fetch wood." Chapter 8
"'Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!'" Chapter 9
"[The boys] found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society. They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror [of the makeshift beast] and made it governable." Chapter 9
"There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws." Chapter 9
"'[We should be] looking like we used to, washed and hair brushed — after all we aren't savages really . . . .'" Chapter 11
"Which is better — to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?" Chapter 11"The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist." Chapter 11
"What was the sensible thing to do? There was no Piggy to talk sense." Chapter 12
"'I should have thought that a pack of British boys . . . would have been able to put up a better show than that.'" Chapter 12
"Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." Chapter 12