“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us.”
Variant: What I mean is... maybe it's only us...
Source: Lord of the Flies
Quotes from book
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by Nobel Prize–winning British author William Golding. The book focuses on a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempt to govern themselves. Themes include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality.
“They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling unable to communicate.”
Source: Lord of the Flies
“The trouble was, if you were a chief you had to think, you had to be wise.”
Source: Lord of the Flies
“Maybe," he said hesitantly, "maybe there is a beast." […] "What I mean is, maybe it's only us.”
Source: Lord of the Flies
“The skull regarded Ralph like one who knows all the answers but won't tell.”
Source: Lord of the Flies
“Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!”
Variant: Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!
Source: Lord of the Flies (1954), Ch. 9: A View to a Death
“The rules!" shouted Ralph, "you're breaking the rules!"
"Who cares?”
Source: Lord of the Flies (1954), Ch. 5: Beast from Water
Context: "The rules!" shouted Ralph, "you're breaking the rules!"
"Who cares?"
Ralph summoned his wits.
"Because the rules are the only thing we've got!"
But Jack was shouting against him.
"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 —!"
Source: Lord of the Flies (1954), Ch. 12: The Cry of the Hunters
Context: His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, 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.
