45 Animal Farm Quotes To Teach You the Power of Too Much Power

These Animal Farm quotes will remind you to always check your privilege and to think of what can happen when you use power to harm others.

Animal Farm is an allegory from over 75 years ago that’s still read in classrooms today.

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What are the benefits of reading these Animal Farm quotes?

Published in 1945, the book became a great success and won many awards, including a Retrospective Hugo Award in 1996.

Time Magazine chose it as one of the 100 best English-language novels and it’s also included in the selection of the Great Books of the Western World.

Whether you’ve read the classic story by George Orwell or not, chances are that you’ve heard about it in your life.

And that’s because this book has an important message that can apply to many situations, even today.

The book is based on the Russian Revolution and discusses what happens when too much power can eventually lead to corruption.

Without giving too much away — and despite what your own views may be on communism and socialism — these Animal Farm quotes will discuss:

• the downfall of having too much power
• what can happen when strides to make society equal actually lead to vast inequality
• communism and socialism

If you like this article, we suggest you explore our most popular quotes article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily encouragement. 

Look through our complete collection of inspirational quotes here.

Animal Farm Quotes on Hierarchy and Order

1. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

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2. “Four legs good, two legs bad.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

3. “The only good human being is a dead one.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

4. “No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

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5. “Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

6. “If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

7. “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

Animal Farm Quotes on Corruption and Control

8. “Several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

9. “This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

10. “Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would go on as it had always gone on–that is, badly.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

11. “Surely, comrades, you don’t want Jones back?” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

12. “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

13. “Some of the animals remembered – or thought they remembered – that the Sixth Commandment decreed ‘No animal shall kill any other animal.'” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

14. “Never mind the milk, comrades!” cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

15. “Four young porkers in the front row uttered shrill squeals of disapproval, and all four of them sprang to their feet and began speaking at once.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

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16. “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, Animal Farm

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17. “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, Animal Farm

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18. “Muriel,” she said, “read me the Fourth Commandment. Does it not say something about never sleeping in a bed?” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

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Animal Farm Quotes on Powerful Leadership

19. “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

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20. “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

21. “All men are enemies. All animals are comrades” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

22. “If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

23. “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.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

24. “It had become usual to give Napoleon the Credit for every Successful achievement and every stroke of good fortune.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

25. “Man serves the interests of no creature except himself.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm

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Exploring the Significance of Animal Farm Quotes

26. “His tales of Sugarcandy Mountain had had much the same effect.” — George Orwell

27. “He is the only animal who has ever actually left the farm and come back again, and his tale was so highly colored that it was difficult to believe that none of it was true.” — George Orwell

28. “Moses sprang off his perch and flapped after her, croaking loudly.” — George Orwell

29. “Moses, who was Mr. Jones’s especial pet, was a spy and a tale-bearer, but he was also a clever talker.” — George Orwell

30. “The beings outside Animal Farm, were not being conquered by human beings; they were being conquered by the great Napoleon.” — George Orwell

31. “Sugarcandy Mountain, that happy country where we poor animals shall rest forever from our labors!” — George Orwell

32. “Clover warned him sometimes to be careful not to work too hard. But Boxer would never listen to her.” — George Orwell

33. “They had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere.” — George Orwell

34. “I think there is something terrible about the pigs.” — George Orwell

35. “They always had an excuse for everything that went wrong. And gradually the promises grew emptier.” — George Orwell

Thought-Provoking Animal Farm Quotes by George Orwell

36. “Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever.” — George Orwell

37. “They are taking the credit for your own ideas, Snowball! They are plotting to destroy everything we have built. They want to bring Jones back! We must prevent this at all costs!” — George Orwell

38. “We animals are brothers. No animal must ever kill any other animal. All animals are equal.” — George Orwell

39. “Comrades, do you know who is responsible for this? Do you know the enemy who has come in the night and overthrown our windmill? SNOWBALL!” — George Orwell

40. “I have no wish to take life, not even human life. Snowball fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed. I wish nothing but good health and long life to the enemy.” — George Orwell

41. “I do not understand it. I would not have believed that such things could happen on our farm. It must be due to some fault in ourselves.” — George Orwell

42. “I will work harder and Napoleon will reward all of us!” — George Orwell

43. “Education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.” — George Orwell

44. “Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure. On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility.” — George Orwell

45. “Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.” — George Orwell

What did you learn from these Animal Farm quotes?

In this day in age, it’s easy to see that authority is often taken advantage of by those who are in a unique position in which they have power over others.

Because of this, individuals and groups of people — even entire nations — are usually helpless, even if those in power may have good intentions at heart.

This is a meaningful lesson that we can learn from Animal Farm.

Whether we recognize this in our government or even in our work lives, these Animal Farm quotes will remind us to always check our privilege and to think of what can happen when we use power to harm those who are in a different position than ourselves. 

What’s your biggest takeaway from these Animal Farm quotes?

Do you have any other favorite quotes to add?

Let us know in the comment section below.