Animal Farm is about the abuse of power.
It’s a novel by George Orwell about the rise of the Soviet Union and the rebellion.
The book has many quotes about power, such as:
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Page 33
“The only good human is a dead human.” – Page 71
Animal Farm Quotes With Page Numbers
Animal Farm Power Theme
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel that explores the theme of power and its corrupting influence. This is evident throughout the book as the pigs, representing the ruling class, become increasingly authoritarian and oppressive towards the other animals.
These quotes demonstrate how power can corrupt and distort the ideals of equality and fairness. The pigs, who initially sought to create a society where all animals were equal, eventually became what they were trying to overthrow – oppressive rulers.
The quote “Four legs good, two legs better!” from Chapter 10 shows how the sheep, who were once supporters of the rebellion, have been brainwashed by the pigs into supporting their oppressive regime.
The quote “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” from Chapter 7 highlights the hypocrisy of the pigs and their manipulation of language to justify their abuse of power.
In conclusion, Animal Farm is a powerful commentary on the corrupting influence of power and the dangers of totalitarianism.
The power quotes above, with page numbers, help to illustrate how the pigs’ rise to power ultimately led to the erosion of the principles they claimed to be fighting for.
Animal Farm Quotes About Power With Page Numbers
Here are some quotes with page numbers that illustrate the power theme:
“As for the dogs, when they grow old and toothless, Jones ties a brick round their necks and drowns them in the nearest pond.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Old Major), Chapter 1, Page 7
“What then must we do? Why, work night and day, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race! That is my message to you, comrades: Rebellion!”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Old Major), Chapter 1, Page 7
“And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No animal must ever kill any other animal. All animals are equal.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Old Major), Chapter 1, Page 7
“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.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Old Major), Chapter 1, Pages 7, 8
”Is it not crystal clear, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings?”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Old Major), Chapter 1, Page 9
“Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest, that the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. It is all lies. Man serves the interest of no creature except himself.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Old Major), Chapter 1, Page 10
“All men are enemies. All animals are comrades”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Old Major), Chapter 1, Page 10
“Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Old Major), Chapter 1, Page 11
“Then they filed back to the farm buildings and halted in silence outside the door of the farmhouse. That was theirs too, but they were frightened to go inside. After a moment, however, Snowball and Napoleon butted the door open with their shoulders and the animals entered in single file,”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Snowball) Chapter 2, Page 22
“Napoleon sent for pots of black and white paint and led the way down to the five-barred gate that gave on to the main road. Then Snowball (for it was Snowball who was best at writing) took a brush between the two knuckles of his trotter, painted out MANOR FARM from the top bar of the gate and in its place painted ANIMAL FARM. This was to be the name of the farm from now onwards.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Snowball), Chapter 2, Pages 23, 24
“The Seven Commandments:
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.”~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Napoleon), Chapter 2, Pages 24, 25
“Never mind the milk, comrades!” cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. “That will be attended to. The harvest is more important. Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I shall follow in a few minutes. Forward, comrades! The hay is waiting.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Napoleon), Chapter 2, Page 26
“Snowball also busied himself with organizing the other animals into what he called Animal Committees… On the whole these projects were a failure.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Snowball), Chapter 3, Pages 32
“After much thought Snowball declared that the Seven Commandments could in effect be reduced to a single maxim, namely: “Four legs good, two legs bad.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Snowball) Chapter 3, Pages 33, 34
“Four legs good, two legs bad.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character, Snowball), Chapter 3, Pages 34, 47, 48, 55, 63, 88, and 116
“Snowball, who had studied an old book of Julius Caesar’s campaigns which he had found in the farmhouse, was in charge of the defensive operations. He gave his orders quickly, and in a couple of minutes ever animal was at his post.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Snowball) Chapter 4, Page 37
“The only good human being is a dead one.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Snowball), Chapter 4, Page 43
“At the Meetings Snowball often won over the majority with his brilliant speeches, but Napoleon was better at canvassing support for himself in between times.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Snowball) Chapter 5, Page 47
“Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would go on as it had always gone on–that is, badly.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Benjamin), Chapter 5, Page 51
“The animals listened first to Napoleon, then to Snowball, and could not make up their minds which was right; indeed, they always found themselves in agreement with the one who was speaking at the moment.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Snowball) Chapter 5, Page 51
“Until now the animals had been about equally divided in their sympathies, but in a moment Snowball’s eloquence had carried them away.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Snowball) Chapter 5, Page 52
“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, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape their snapping jaws.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Snowball), Chapter 5, Pages 52-53
“Surely, comrades, you don’t want Jones back?”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Napoleon), Chapter 5, Page 56
“This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Napoleon), Chapter 6, Page 59
“Muriel,” she said, “read me the Fourth Commandment. Does it not say something about never sleeping in a bed?”
With some difficulty Muriel spelt it out.
“It says, ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,”‘ she announced finally.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Clover and Muriel), Chapter 6, Page 67
“Frequently he did not even appear on Sunday mornings, but issued his orders through one of the other pigs, usually Squealer.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: the narrator about Napoleon), Chapter 7, Page 76
“If a window was broken or a drain was blocked up, someone was certain to say that Snowball had come in the night and done it, and when the key of the store-shed was lost, the whole farm was convinced that Snowball had thrown it down the well. Curiously enough, they went on believing this even after the mislaid key was found under a sack of meal.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Snowball) Chapter 7, Page 78
“Ah, that is different!” said Boxer. “If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Boxer), Chapter 7, Page 82
Animal Farm Boxer Quotes With Page Numbers
“Some of the animals remembered – or thought they remembered – that the Sixth Commandment decreed ‘No animal shall kill any other animal.’”
“No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about power), Chapter 8, Page 91
“It had become usual to give Napoleon the Credit for every Successful achievement and every stroke of good fortune. You would often hear one hen remark to another, “Under the guidance of our leader, Comrade Napoleon, I have laid five eggs in six days” or two cows, enjoying a drink at the pool, would exclaim,
“thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!”…”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator, the chickens and the cows about Napoleon), Chapter 8, Page 93
“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.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about power), Chapter 10, Page 129
“The animals were hard at work building yet another windmill; when that one was finished, so it was said, the dynamos would be installed. But the luxuries of which Snowball had once taught the animals to dream, the stalls with electric light and hot and cold water, and the three-day week, were no longer talked about. Napoleon had denounced such ideas as contrary to the spirit of Animalism. The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard and living frugally.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about Napoleon), Chapter 10, Page 129
“All Animals Are Equal. But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The sheep), Chapter 10, Page 134
“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.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The narrator about power), Chapter 10, Page 139
“If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
~George Orwell
“The result of preaching totalitarian doctrines is to weaken the instinct by means of which free peoples know what is or is not dangerous.”
~George Orwell,
“One does not say that a book ‘ought not to have been published’ merely because it is a bad book. After all, acres of rubbish are printed daily and no one bothers.”
~George Orwell,
What quotes show power in Animal Farm?
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (The sheep), Chapter 10, Page 134
This quote suggests that although animals are supposed to be equal, some individuals are given more privileges than others. Farmer Jones also uses his power and control to maintain his authority over the animals on the farm.
“Never mind the milk, comrades!” cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. “That will be attended to. The harvest is more important. Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I shall follow in a few minutes. Forward, comrades! The hay is waiting.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, (Character: Napoleon), Chapter 2, Page 26
In this quote from Animal Farm, Napoleon displays his hunger for power by prioritizing the harvest over the milk and positioning himself as the leader who follows Snowball. This highlights his desire to control the farm and its resources.
Animal Farm quotes about control.
One quote from Animal Farm that demonstrates control is “Bit and spur shall rust forever, Cruel whips no more shall crack,” which is part of the song “Beasts of England” that Old Major teaches the animals in response to Mr. Jones treating them badly.
This quote shows how Mr. Jones uses devices such as bits, spurs, and whips to keep the animals under his control. Another quote demonstrating control is “this sudden uprising of creatures whom they were used to thrashing and maltreating just as they chose, frightened them almost out of their wits.”
This quote refers to the animals fighting back against the men and taking control of the farm, which frightens the men because they are not used to the animals having power.
Lastly, a quote demonstrating how the pigs take control is, “Squealer spoke so persuasively, and the three dogs who happened to be with him growled so threateningly, that they accepted his explanation without further questions.”
This quote shows how the pigs use rhetoric and intimidation to control the other animals and prevent them from questioning their decisions. Overall, these quotes show how power and control are important themes in Animal Farm and how different characters use various tactics to establish and maintain their control.
Animal Farm quotes about manipulation.
Animal Farm is a novella filled with propaganda and manipulation tactics used by the pigs in charge of the animal farm to maintain control over the other animals. The following quotes from the book highlight some of the key manipulation tactics used:
“Four legs good, two legs bad” is a slogan repeated several times in the novella. This phrase simplifies the pigs’ principles of animalism, designed to create a society where all animals are equal and have the right to live free from human oppression.
The slogan implies that humans are inherently evil and that animals must be wary of them. By repeating the slogan, the pigs can rally the other animals around the cause of animalism and convince them to work together to create a better society.
“Napoleon is always right” is another slogan repeated several times in the novella. The slogan reinforces that Napoleon is infallible and should not be questioned.
By repeating the phrase, the pigs can convince the other animals to trust and obey them without question, even if their decisions may be harmful or unjust. This is a common tactic authoritarian regimes use to maintain power and control over their citizens.
“They had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes” is a quote from Chapter 7 of the novella.
This quote highlights the extreme level of fear and repression that exists in the animal farm society. The animals are not allowed to express their opinions, thoughts, beliefs, or ideas and are constantly monitored and punished for dissent.
This creates an environment of fear and distrust because the animals cannot trust each other and are constantly looking over their shoulders.
In conclusion, Animal Farm uses various quotes to illustrate the manipulation tactics used by the pigs in charge of the animal farm to maintain control over the other animals.
These quotes warn about the dangers of blindly following slogans or charismatic leaders without critically evaluating their underlying principles and actions.