How thin is the veneer of civilization?
William Golding’s chilling 1954 novel, Lord of the Flies, strands British schoolboys on a desert island, not for adventure, but to dissect the darkness that emerges when societal structures collapse.
We’ve collected 70 Lord of the Flies quotes with page numbers and organized them by core themes of struggle between civilization and savagery, the loss of innocence, the pervasiveness of fear, and the corrupting nature of power.
Witnessing their descent from order to primal savagery raises profound questions about human nature.
Explore the lines that chart the boys’ terrifying journey and reveal the inherent fragility of the rules they try to uphold.
As the boys acclimate to the island, the initial hopefulness quickly gives way as the primal instincts inherent within them begin to surface, challenging the fragile order they attempt to impose.
The Struggle: Civilization vs. Savagery
Golding masterfully pits the desire for order, rules, and rescue against the allure of unchecked freedom, hunting, and tribalism. This elemental conflict defines the novel’s central tension and explores the precariousness of societal norms.
“Sucks to your ass-mar!”
(Character: Ralph, Chapter 1, Page 13)
Ralph’s early dismissal of Piggy’s vulnerability, while childish, foreshadows the group’s later, more dangerous disregard for weakness and intellect.
“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.”
(Character: Jack, Chapter 2, Page 42)
Golding employs irony here; Jack, the eventual embodiment of savagery, initially invokes nationalism and the concept of rules to assert his claim to leadership.
“The rules!” shouted Ralph… “Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got!”
(Dialogue: Ralph to Jack, Chapter 5, Page 91)
Ralph desperately articulates the vital importance of rules as the symbolic barrier against chaos, recognizing their power even as their practical authority disintegrates. See how Ralph champions the fight for order.
“Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong – we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat”
(Character: Jack, Chapter 5, Page 91)
Jack’s raw declaration signifies his complete rejection of the democratic process and reasoned debate in favor of primal strength and violence.
“Which is better — to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?… Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?”
(Character: Piggy, Chapter 11, Page 180)
Piggy’s final, poignant appeal to reason encapsulates the novel’s core conflict, tragically highlighting the boys’ fatal choice of violent tribalism over civilization. Explore Piggy’s consistent voice of intellect here.
“Are we savages or what?”
(Character: Ralph, Chapter 11, Page 170)
“The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away.”
(Character: The narrator, Chapter 5, Page 91)
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”
(Character: Piggy, Chapter 5, Page 91)
“If I blow the conch and they don’t come back… We’ll be like animals… If you don’t blow, we’ll soon be animals anyway.”
(Dialogue: Ralph and Piggy, Chapter 5, Page 92)
The conch shell is a powerful symbol of democratic order, its influence waning as the boys descend into savagery. Trace the conch’s symbolic journey and meaning.
“the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.”
(Character: The narrator, Chapter 11, Page 181)
The physical destruction of the conch, coinciding with Piggy’s murder, represents the irretrievable loss of reason, law, and civilized discourse on the island.
“Roger stooped… threw it to miss… Yet there was a space round Henry… into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life… Roger was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.”
(Character: The narrator about Roger, Chapter 4, Page 62)
This crucial moment reveals the fading power of internalized societal rules, showing Roger testing boundaries he will later obliterate.
Golding relentlessly illustrates how easily the structures of civilization can crumble, revealing the potent allure of savagery beneath.
The Nature of Humanity & Inherent Darkness (The Beast)
The central, terrifying discovery in the novel is that the “beast” the boys fear is not an external creature, but the inherent capacity for evil and violence residing within human nature, unleashed by fear and the absence of societal constraints.
“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.”
(Character: Simon, Chapter 5, Page 89)
Simon’s quiet, profound realization cuts through the boys’ externalized fears to identify the true source of the island’s corruption: their innate darkness. This insight elevates him but also isolates him. Delve into Simon’s unique perception and fate.
“There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . .”
(Character: The Lord of the Flies to Simon, Chapter 8, Page 143)
“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”
(Character: The Lord of the Flies to Simon, Chapter 8, Page 143)
The disembodied pig’s head, the “Lord of the Flies,” explicitly confirms Simon’s intuition, personifying the inherent evil and potential for savagery within the seemingly innocent boys.
“The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life.”
(Character: The narrator describing the pig’s head, Chapter 8, Page 137)
“They were black and iridescent green… and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned… his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition.”
(Character: The narrator about Simon’s encounter, Chapter 8, Page 138)
“He knelt among the shadows and felt his isolation bitterly. They were savages it was true; but they were human.”
(Character: The narrator about Ralph’s thoughts, Chapter 12, Pages 185, 186)
“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.”
(Character: The narrator about Ralph, Chapter 12, Page 202)
Ralph’s final realization is devastating: the loss is not merely of life but of innocence itself, acknowledging the inherent “darkness of man’s heart” revealed on the island.
“Unless we get frightened of people.”
(Character: Piggy concluding dialogue with Ralph, Chapter 5, Page 84)
The island strips away the boys’ societal conditioning, revealing the raw, often brutal, core of human nature beneath.
Loss of Innocence and Identity
The island environment acts as a catalyst, accelerating the boys’ transition from naive schoolchildren to hardened survivors, participants in violence, and carriers of a terrible knowledge. Their identities are tragically reshaped.
“This is our island. It’s a good island. Until the grownups come to fetch us we’ll have fun.”
(Character: Ralph, Chapter 2, Page 35)
This early quote embodies the initial naive optimism and sense of play before the island’s and their own darker nature asserts itself.
“He snatched his knife out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk. Next time there would be no mercy,”
(Character: The narrator about Jack, Chapter 1, Page 31)
Jack’s initial hesitation to kill the piglet gives way to performative violence, a crucial step in suppressing his civilized conscience and embracing the hunter persona.
“The mask was a thing on it’s own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-conciousness.”
(Character: The narrator about Jack, Chapter 4, Page 64)
The anonymity granted by the painted mask is psychologically liberating for Jack, allowing him to fully shed his former identity and inhibitions, unleashing his primal desires without shame. Trace Jack’s chilling transformation here.
“Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.”
(Chant by: Jack and his hunters, Chapter 4, Page 69)
“His mind was crowded with memories… knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.”
(Character: The narrator about Jack, Chapter 4, Page 70)
“Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!”
(Chant by: The hunters, including Ralph, Chapter 7, Page 114)
The ritualistic chant becomes a hypnotic force, unifying the group in bloodlust and demonstrating how even Ralph, the symbol of order, can be momentarily swept up in the collective savagery.
“This was a savage whose image refused to blend with that ancient picture of a boy in shorts and a shirt.”
(Character: The narrator describing a hunter, Chapter 12, Page 183)
“They accepted the pleasures of morning… life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten.”
(Character: The narrator, Chapter 4, Page 58)
“…they grew accustomed to these mysteries and ignored them, just as they ignored the miraculous, the throbbing stars.”
(Character: The narrator, Chapter 4, Page 58)
“He became absorbed beyond mere happiness as he felt himself exercising control over living things… gave him the illusion of mastery.”
(Character: The narrator about Henry, Chapter 4, Page 61)
“That’s right. We was on the outside. We never done nothing, we never seen nothing.”
(Character: Piggy about Simon’s death, Chapter 10, Page 158)
Piggy’s desperate attempt at denial highlights the unbearable weight of guilt and the boys’ inability to process their horrific actions.
“The edge of the lagoon became a streak of phosphorescence… Softly, surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures… Simon’s dead body moved out towards the open sea.”
(Character: The narrator describing Simon’s body, Chapter 9, Pages 153, 154)
Golding uses poetic, almost beatific imagery to describe Simon’s departure, contrasting the island’s lingering natural beauty with the boys’ brutal act, emphasizing the profound loss of innocence and spiritual insight.
On the island, the established hierarchy of the schoolyard transforms into a deadly power struggle, where fear becomes the ultimate tool of control.
Power, Leadership, and Fear
The absence of adult authority creates a vacuum quickly filled by a struggle for dominance. Leadership styles diverge, with Ralph representing democratic order and Jack embodying authoritarian control achieved through manipulating fear and appealing to base instincts.
“I ought to be chief…because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.”
(Character: Jack, Chapter 1, Page 22)
Jack’s initial, almost absurd claim to leadership relies on irrelevant status from the old world, immediately revealing his inherent desire for power and position.
“His specs – use them as burning glasses! ”
(Character: Jack, Chapter 2, Page 40)
Jack recognizes the practical power embodied in Piggy’s glasses, the ability to create fire, foreshadowing his later theft of them to control the essential resource for survival and comfort.
“Acting like a crowd of kids!”
(Character: Piggy, Chapter 2, Page 38)
“How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper?”
(Character: Piggy, Chapter 2, Page 45)
“I thought I might kill.”
(Character: Jack), Chapter 3, Page 51)
“People don’t help much.”
(Character: Ralph to Jack, Chapter 3, Page 54)
“They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling unable to communicate.”
(Character: The narrator about Ralph and Jack, Chapter 3, Page 55)
“There is nothing in it of course. Just a feeling. But you can feel as if you’re not hunting, but – being hunted, as if something’s behind you all the time in the jungle.”
(Character: Jack to Ralph and Simon, Chapter 3, Page 53)
Jack admits to a primal fear, hinting at the psychological toll of the hunt and the encroaching sense of unseen menace on the island.
“We’ve got to talk about this fear and decide there’s nothing in it.”
(Character: Ralph, Chapter 5, Page 82)
“The thing is – fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream.”
(Character: Jack, Chapter 5, Page 82)
Jack attempts to dismiss fear rationally but ironically uses the boys’ fear of the beast to consolidate his power and justify the hunt.
“I’m scared of him,” said Piggy… He hates you too, Ralph…” … “He can’t hurt you: but if you stand out of the way he’d hurt the next thing. And that’s me.”
(Dialogue: Simon, Piggy, Ralph, Chapter 5, Page 93)
“As long as there’s light we’re brave enough”
(Character: Ralph, Chapter 8, Page 125)
“Now you done it. You been rude about his hunters.”
(Character: Piggy to Ralph about Jack, Chapter 8, Page 125)
“We can do without ’em. We’ll be happier now, won’t we?”
(Character: Piggy about Jack’s tribe, Chapter 8, Page 131)
“… what makes things break up like they do?” Piggy… “I expect it’s him.” “Jack?” “Jack.” … “Yes,” he said, “I suppose it must be.”
(Dialogue: Ralph and Piggy about Jack, Chapter 8, Pages 139, 140)
Despite the encroaching darkness, flickers of insight, enduring connections, and a persistent yearning for the lost world of order and reason continue to surface, highlighting the complexity of the boys’ internal struggles.
Wisdom, Perception, and Hope
Amid chaos, characters like Piggy and Simon are voices of reason, perception, and fragile hope, though their wisdom is often tragically unheeded by the increasingly savage majority.
“Didn’t you hear what the pilot said? About the atom bomb? They’re all dead.”
(Character: Piggy, Chapter 1, Page 14)
Piggy immediately introduces the harsh reality of the outside world’s conflict, grounding the boys’ predicament in a larger context of societal collapse.
“That little ‘un that had a mark on his face—where is he now? I tell you I don’t see him.”
(Character: Piggy, Chapter 2, Page 46)
Piggy’s pragmatic, almost bureaucratic observation underscores the first tangible consequence of the group’s irresponsibility with the fire, foreshadowing greater losses.
“Give me my specs!”
(Character: Piggy, Chapter 2, Page 41)
“He wanted to explain how people were never quite what you thought they were.”
(Character: The narrator about Ralph thinking of Piggy, Chapter 3, Page 54)
“They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate.”
(Character: The narrator about Ralph and Jack, Chapter 3, Page 55)
“There had grown up tacitly among the biguns the opinion that Piggy was an outsider… by fat, and assmar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labor.”
(Character: The narrator about Piggy, Chapter 4, Page 65)
“He found himself understanding the wearisomeness of this life, where every path was an improvisation…”
(Character: The narrator about Ralph, Chapter 5, Page 76)
“He lost himself in a maze of thoughts that were rendered vague by his lack of words to express them.”
(Character: The narrator about Ralph, Chapter 5, Page 76)
“If faces were different when lit from above or below — what was a face? What was anything?”
(Character: Ralph’s thoughts, Chapter 5, Page 78)
“Thought was a valuable thing, that got results.”
(Character: The narrator about Ralph, Chapter 5, Page 78)
“Life’s scientific, but we don’t know, do we? Not certainly, I mean.”
(Character: Piggy questioning Maurice, Chapter 5, Page 88)
“The trouble is: Are there ghosts, Piggy? Or beasts?” “ ’Course there aren’t.” … “’Cos things wouldn’t make sense…”
(Dialogue: Ralph and Piggy, Chapter 5, Page 92)
“Grownups know things,” said Piggy. “They ain’t afraid of the dark…”
(Character: Piggy, Chapter 5, Page 94)
Piggy consistently appeals to the perceived rationality and order of the adult world as an antidote to the island’s chaos, highlighting his faith in logic even as it fails him.
“Once more, amid the breeze, the shouting, the slanting sunlight on the high mountain, was shed that glamour, that strange invisible light of friendship, adventure and content.”
(Character: The narrator, Chapter 2, Page 39)
“The sun in the west was a drop of burning gold that slid nearer and nearer the sill of the world. All at once they were aware of the evening as the end of light and warmth.”
(Character: The narrator, Chapter 2, Page 43)
“The flames, as though they were a kind of wild life, crept as a jaguar creeps on its belly toward a line of birch-like saplings that fledged an outcrop of the pink rock.”
(Character: The narrator, Chapter 2, Page 44)
“If you could shut your ears to the slow suck down of the sea… then there was a chance that you might put the beast out of mind and dream for a while.”
(Character: The narrator, Chapter 7, Page 109)
“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.”
(Character: The narrator about Ralph, Chapter 7, Page 117)
“The greatest ideas are the simplest. Now there was something to be done they worked with passion”
(Character: The narrator about Ralph/Piggy, Chapter 8, Page 129)
“But nobody else understands about the fire. If someone threw you a rope when you were drowning… you would, wouldn’t you?”
(Character: Ralph, Chapter 8, Page 139)
“I dunno, Ralph. We just got to go on, that’s all. That’s what grown-ups would do.”
(Character: Piggy, Chapter 8, Page 139)
“Come away. There’s going to be trouble. And we’ve had our meat.”
(Character: Piggy to Ralph, Chapter 9, Page 151)
“If only one had time to think!”
(Character: Ralph’s thoughts, Chapter 12, Page 195)
“The officer, surrounded by these noises, was moved and a little embarrassed. He turned away to give them time to pull themselves together; and waited, allowing his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser in the distance.”
(Character: The narrator, near final line, Chapter 12, Page 202)
The naval officer’s arrival represents an abrupt intrusion of the adult world. Yet his slight embarrassment and focus on the cruiser hint at the adults’ distance from the raw savagery he has encountered, suggesting the darkness is not confined to the island.
The Enduring Echo
These 70 quotes from Lord of the Flies chart the harrowing descent from societal hope into primal fear and savagery.
They expose the fragility of rules, the allure of violence, the internal nature of the “beast,” and the tragic loss of innocence. Golding’s narrative is a powerful, enduring exploration of the darkness inherent in the human heart, barely restrained by the structures of civilization.
Continue exploring the evolving characters and potent themes of this timeless novel:
Explore All Lord of the Flies Analysis
A Note on Page Numbers & Edition:
Like fear, these quotes resonate across editions, but page numbers WILL inevitably differ. All citations (e.g., Chapter 1, Page 13) reference the Penguin Books, December 16, 2003, Mass Market Paperback edition (ISBN-13: 978-0399501487).
Always verify page numbers against your specific copy for academic precision, lest your references become as elusive as the boys’ rescue.
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.