“They want to be natural, the anti-social little beasts. They just don't realize that everyone's good depends on everyone's cooperation.”

“Sooner or later, everyone has to meet his match.”

“Bluebell: Please, sir, I'm only a little [car] and I've left all my petrol on the grass. So if you don't mind eating the grass, sir, while I give this lady a ride-Hazel: Bluebell, shut up!”

“Lots of little Bigwigs, Hazel! Think of that, and tremble!”

“The rabbits mingled naturally. They did not talk for talking's sake, in the artificial manner that human beings - and sometimes even their dogs and cats - do. But this did not mean that they were not communicating; merely that they were not communicating by talking.”

“Rabbits live close to death and when death comes closer than usual, thinking about survival leaves little room for anything else.”

“Animals don't behave like men,' he said. 'If they have to fight, they fight; and if they have to kill they kill. But they don't sit down and set their wits to work to devise ways of spoiling other creatures' lives and hurting them. They have dignity and animality.”