Top 2 Animal Farm quotes
"Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken to my joyful tiding,
Of the golden future time,"
-Old Major, Chapter 1
This forms the first verse of the song "Beasts of England," and it is first introduced by the Old Major during his speech. He tells the animals that the song had always existed but that he had never quite known all the words of the song until they came to him in a dream. Songs are an important symbol in Animal Farm, as the animals begin to rely on singing the song to feel united. However, Napoleon causes the song to be outlawed and has another pig compose other poems and songs. This ban fails to take hold as several of the animals continue to sing the song to themselves in private.
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
- Chapter 10
The pigs eventually stop changing the commandments one at a time and replace all the commandments with one principle. This one principle then begins to represent their ideology, as they twist the meaning of equal to present themselves as the overlords of the other animals. This quote is particularly poignant when read with the ending of the book as the animals of the farm watch farmers and pigs behave like one another and feast while they remain starved and cold looking in through the window.
