Power. Its allure corrupts, its methods manipulate, and its consolidation often betrays the ideals it claims to uphold.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm remains a vital, chilling exploration of this theme.
Through the allegory of a farm animal rebellion, Orwell dissects how power is seized, maintained, and abused, mirroring historical totalitarian regimes and offering timeless warnings.
We’ve researched 16 essential Animal Farm power quotes that illustrate control, manipulation, and corruption within the farm. These lines reveal the mechanisms of oppression, from Old Major’s initial warnings to Napoleon’s tyranny.
Heads up! Page numbers reference the Signet edition noted below.
Establishing Power & Early Control
Even in the revolution’s initial stages, Orwell shows how power dynamics shift, often through subtle appropriation and the establishment of intellectual authority before resorting to force.
“The work of teaching and organising the others fell naturally upon the pigs, who were generally recognised as being the cleverest of the animals.”
(Speaker: Narrator, Chapter 2, Page 15)
Orwell shows that the initial basis of the pigs’ power isn’t force, but perceived intelligence, accepted “naturally” by the others, setting a foundation for hierarchy.
“Never mind the milk, comrades!” cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. “That will be attended to. The harvest is more important…”
(Speaker: Napoleon, Chapter 2, Page 26)
Napoleon’s swift command diverts attention and secures resources for the pigs. It’s a pragmatic display of early power consolidation disguised as prioritizing collective work.
“Comrades!’ he cried. ‘You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege?… We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us.”
(Speaker: Squealer, Chapter 3, Pages 35-36)
Squealer explicitly links the pigs’ privilege to their supposed intellectual necessity (“brainworkers”), framing inequality as vital for the farm’s survival—a key propaganda tactic.
“As soon as they were weaned, Napoleon took them away from their mothers… kept them in such seclusion that the rest of the farm soon forgot their existence.”
(Speaker: Narrator about Napoleon and the puppies, Chapter 3, Pages 34-35)
This demonstrates Napoleon’s calculated strategy for securing future power: controlling the youth to create a loyal, unquestioning enforcement body (the dogs).
The seeds of unequal power are sown early through claims of intelligence, strategic resource control, and the secret cultivation of force.
Consolidating Power: Force, Fear & Control
Napoleon cements his rule not through consent, but by eliminating rivals, abolishing democratic structures, and using his dogs to instill pervasive fear.
“At this there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball…”
(Speaker: Narrator, Chapter 5, Pages 52-53)
The deployment of the dogs marks the transition from political debate to violence as the primary power tool, physically removing opposition.
“He announced that from now on the Sunday-morning Meetings would come to an end… all questions relating to the working of the farm would be settled by a special committee of pigs, presided over by himself.”
(Speaker: Narrator about Napoleon, Chapter 5, Page 54)
Napoleon dismantles the farm’s democratic forum, concentrating all political power within a committee he controls, effectively silencing collective decision-making.
“Surely, comrades, you don’t want Jones back?”
(Speaker: Squealer, Chapter 5, Page 56)
Squealer wields the threat of Jones’s return—the ultimate fear—to suppress dissent against Napoleon’s decrees, making compliance seem the only viable option.
“This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.”
(Speaker: Narrator about Napoleon’s decree, Chapter 6, Page 59)
This oxymoronic order perfectly illustrates the regime’s coercive power, masking compulsion (“rations reduced”) with the illusion of free will (“strictly voluntary”).
“And so the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon’s feet…”
(Speaker: Narrator about Napoleon, Chapter 7, Page 84)
The purges represent the regime’s ultimate tool: consolidating power through brutal, public displays of terror, eliminating any hint of internal opposition.
“It had become usual to give Napoleon the Credit for every Successful achievement and every stroke of good fortune…”
(Speaker: Narrator, Chapter 8, Page 93)
Propaganda paints Napoleon’s image as infallible, attributing all positive events to his leadership, thereby reinforcing his perceived necessity and power.
Napoleon secures his rule by eliminating opposition, controlling information, replacing democracy with decree, and cultivating endless fear.
The Corruption of Ideals & Abuse of Power
As the pigs cement their control, the revolution’s founding principles—especially equality—are systematically twisted and abandoned to justify the ruling class’s privileges and mimic human behaviors.
“All the habits of Man are evil.”
(Speaker: Old Major, Chapter 1, Page 11)
Old Major’s clear decree against adopting human ways is the initial moral compass, highlighting the hypocrisy when the pigs later sleep in beds, drink alcohol, and walk on two legs.
“And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind… All animals are equal.”
(Speaker: Old Major, Chapter 1, Page 11)
This core principle of equality and non-tyranny, central to Old Major’s vision, becomes the most profoundly betrayed ideal under Napoleon’s hierarchical rule.
“It says, ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,”’ she announced finally.”
(Speaker: Muriel reading the altered Commandment, Chapter 6, Page 67)
The pigs’ rewriting of the law demonstrates the corruption inherent in manipulating language to justify breaking foundational rules for their comfort.
“No animal shall kill any other animal WITHOUT CAUSE.”
(Speaker: Narrator on the altered Commandment, Chapter 8, Page 91)
The addition of “without cause” creates a loophole that nullifies the commandment’s original intent, justifying political executions and state-sanctioned violence.
“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.”
(Speaker: Narrator, Chapter 10, Page 129)
This highlights the economic abuse of power: the collective labor benefits only the ruling elite, mirroring the exact exploitation the revolution aimed to abolish.
“All Animals Are Equal. But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others.”
(Final Commandment painted by Pigs, Chapter 10, Page 134)
The final, contradictory commandment represents the greatest linguistic corruption, explicitly enshrining inequality as the farm’s guiding principle.
“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.”
(Speaker: Narrator, Chapter 10, Page 141)
This concluding image signifies the total corruption of power: the ruling pigs have adopted the behaviors and appearance of their former human oppressors, erasing any distinction.
The initial revolutionary ideals are systematically dismantled and rewritten as the pigs embrace the power structures and behaviors they fought to eliminate.
Conclusion: Power’s Unalterable Law?
These 16 quotes powerfully illustrate Orwell’s central theme in Animal Farm: the insidious and corrupting nature of power.
From Old Major’s warnings against tyranny to Napoleon’s final transformation, the narrative demonstrates how revolutions born in idealism can decay into oppression.
The pigs’ journey—seizing control through intellect, consolidating it with force and propaganda, and becoming indistinguishable from their former masters—is a powerful allegory.
Orwell reveals how power justifies privilege (“more equal”), relies on fear (“Jones would come back”), rewrites history (“Snowball was Jones’s agent”), and replaces one form of exploitation with another.
The quotes about power in Animal Farm remain a vital warning about the need for checks on authority, the dangers of propaganda, and the constant struggle to maintain equality, themes as resonant today as when Orwell wrote them.
Explore All Animal Farm Analysis
A Note on Page Numbers & Edition:
Just as power shifts on the farm, page numbers for George Orwell’s Animal Farm can shift between editions! These 16 quotes reference the widely used Signet 50th Anniversary paperback edition (April 6, 2004), ISBN-13: 978-0451526342. Always double-check against your specific copy when citing for academic work—ensure your evidence holds power!
Jeremy Mortis, founder of Ageless Investing, applies a rigorous analytical approach (the AAM framework) to distill timeless wisdom and contextualized quotes from classic literature, saving you time while deepening understanding. Learn more about Jeremy’s unique background and methodology on his author bio page.