Quotes from book
Peter Pan

Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up or Peter and Wendy is J. M. Barrie's most famous work, in the form of a 1904 play and a 1911 novel. Both versions tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous yet innocent little boy who can fly, and has many adventures on the island of Neverland that is inhabited by mermaids, fairies, Native Americans and pirates. The Peter Pan stories also involve the characters Wendy Darling and her two brothers, Peter's fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, and the pirate Captain Hook. The play and novel were inspired by Barrie's friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family. Barrie continued to revise the play for years after its debut until publication of the play script in 1928.


J. M. Barrie photo
J. M. Barrie photo
J. M. Barrie photo

“Do you believe in fairies?... If you believe, clap your hands!”

Act IV
Peter Pan (1904)

J. M. Barrie photo
J. M. Barrie photo

“To die will be an awfully big adventure.”

Act III
Peter Pan (1904)

J. M. Barrie photo

“All children, except one, grow up.”

Source: Peter and Wendy (1911), Ch. 1
Context: All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, "Oh, why can't you remain like this for ever!" This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.

J. M. Barrie photo

“Just always be waiting for me, and then some night you will hear me crowing.”

Source: Peter and Wendy (1911), Ch. 17
Context: The last thing he ever said to me was, "Just always be waiting for me, and then some night you will hear me crowing."

J. M. Barrie photo

“When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter, who is to be Peter's mother in turn; and thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.”

Source: Peter and Wendy (1911), Ch. 17
Context: As you look at Wendy, you may see her hair becoming white, and her figure little again, for all this happened long ago. Jane is now a common grown-up, with a daughter called Margaret; and every spring cleaning time, except when he forgets, Peter comes for Margaret and takes her to the Neverland, where she tells him stories about himself, to which he listens eagerly. When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter, who is to be Peter's mother in turn; and thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.

J. M. Barrie photo

“Occasionally in her travels through her children's minds Mrs. Darling found things she could not understand, and of these quite the most perplexing was the word Peter.”

Source: Peter and Wendy (1911), Ch. 1
Context: Occasionally in her travels through her children's minds Mrs. Darling found things she could not understand, and of these quite the most perplexing was the word Peter. She knew of no Peter, and yet he was here and there in John and Michael's minds, while Wendy's began to be scrawled all over with him. The name stood out in bolder letters than any of the other words, and as Mrs. Darling gazed she felt that it had an oddly cocky appearance.
"Yes, he is rather cocky," Wendy admitted with regret. Her mother had been questioning her.

J. M. Barrie photo
J. M. Barrie photo
J. M. Barrie photo
J. M. Barrie photo
J. M. Barrie photo
J. M. Barrie photo
J. M. Barrie photo
J. M. Barrie photo

“Proud and insolent youth, prepare to meet thy doom.”

Act V
Peter Pan (1904)

J. M. Barrie photo
J. M. Barrie photo

“Second to the right and then straight on till morning.”

Act I
Peter Pan (1904)

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