William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is one of the 20th century’s most significant novels. Following a plane crash, a group of British schoolboys find themselves alone on a desolate island, and set out to form a new society. One of the boys, Ralph, is chosen as the leader–but soon, his rival, Jack, attempts to persuade the boys to follow him. Another boy, Simon, serves as the voice of morality for both sides. Ralph’s most loyal friend, Piggy, acts as the intellectual antithesis of Jack’s savagery. Without adult supervision, though, their civilization quickly crumbles, and the boys fall into brutal violence.
Though written in the 1950s, the depiction of societal breakdown in Lord of the Flies remains just as chilling today. The complex but flawed characters represent the fragility of social order and the ever-present possibility for evil in human beings. Golding's work is a profound study of humanity’s susceptibility to chaos.
Here are 40+ of the most important quotes from Lord of the Flies that reveal the darkness of human nature.
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”
The best Lord of the Flies quotes about evil and brutality
“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close!”
“Maybe there is a beast… Maybe it’s only us.”
“The beast was harmless and horrible.”
“Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.”
“They understood only too well the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought.”
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”
“He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling.”
“There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast…”
The best Lord of the Flies quotes about society and order
“We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages.”
“Which is better–to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?”
“Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law.”
“Bollocks to the rules!”
“The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away.”
“We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?”
“We’ve got to have smoke up there — or die.”
“They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate.”
The best Lord of the Flies quotes about knowledge and choice
“I believe man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature.”
“The greatest ideas are the simplest.”
“Which is better — laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?”
“There have been so many interpretations of the story that I’m not going to choose between them. Make your own choice.”
“He wanted to explain how people were never quite what you thought they were.”
“If faces were different when lit from above or below — what was a face? What was anything?”
“They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate.”
The best Lord of the Flies quotes about loss of innocence
“He lost himself in a maze of thoughts that were rendered vague by his lack of words to express them. Frowning, he tried again.”
“He found himself understanding the wearisomeness of this life, where every path was an improvisation and a considerable part of one’s waking life was spent watching one’s feet.”
“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.”
“They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling unable to communicate.”
“The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.”
“Sucks to your ass-mar!”
“We did everything adults would do…”
The best Lord of the Flies quotes about fear
“I’m frightened. Of us.”
“The thing is – fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream.”
“If you’re scared of someone you hate him but you can’t stop thinking about him. You kid yourself he’s all right really, an' then when you see him again, it’s like asthma an' you can’t breathe …”
“He forgot his wounds, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear.”
“Their fear had turned them into monsters.”
“There were no grownups. Only fear and rules that held no weight.”
“He’s afraid of me, and that’s why I know him.”
“We must make smoke up there or die.”
The best Lord of the Flies quotes about survival, leadership, and power
“The rules! You’re breaking the rules!”
“You’ll get back to where you came from.”
“Which is better—to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?”
“We must make smoke up there or die.”
“They turned on one another… knowing that the slightest slip could mark you.”
“Authority seemed ordained by fate, yet everyone bristled at it.”
“Jack ruled by fear and painted anonymity.”
