9 Lord of the Flies Quotes About the Darker Side of Humanity

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, published in 1954, won the Nobel Prize for its story about a group of young boys whose plane crashes and leaves them stranded on a remote island without any adult supervision.

This coming-of-age story instantly became the center of controversy, as the boys try everything they can to survive, eventually resorting to violence.

Although the book took on a morbid twist, it offers a very insightful look into man’s propensity for good and evil, especially in the absence of social norms and laws.

9 Best Quotes from Lord of the Flies

If you’ve read the book, we hope the following list of quotes will help remind you of the thought-provoking experience you had while reading it. If you haven’t read the book, we hope these quotes will help inspire you to pick up a copy and finally read it!

Spoiler Alert! If you have not yet read the book and want to avoid a spoiler, you may read until Quote #9.

“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.“

Jack says this line early on in the book, showing us that he initially accepts the importance of rules and how they all needed to abide by them. His connection of obeying rules with a civilized people is clearly seen. It also gives us a glimpse into the English perspective of being superior over everyone else.

However, the irony is that later in the book, he ends up leading a group of savage hunters, and is involved in killing Piggy and hunting their former leader Ralph.

“There aren’t any grownups. We shall have to look after ourselves.”

In Chapter 2, Ralph makes this observation as he realizes that only they, the children, are on the island. It comes with the implication, and the subsequent joy, of being free from adult supervision, and from having adults tell them what to do or not to do.

“They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate.”

In Chapter 3, we get this description of how Ralph, the group’s leader, interacts with his rival Jack. With young children in their care, Ralph and Jack have opposing views of how to manage the group. Ralph is for order and peace, while Jack represents savagery and chaos, which is why each is always wary of the other.

“Life… is scientific… there isn’t no beast… there isn’t no fear… unless we get frightened of people.“

In this quote from Piggy in Chapter 5, we start to recognize him as the rational one in the group. He doesn’t believe in things that he cannot perceive with scientific senses, but he also knows that people have the power to do frightening things.

“The thing is—fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream.”

In Chapter 5, after Jack spreads fear among the group, Ralph gives us this memorable line, urging the boys and hunters to choose wisdom instead of giving in to fear.

“Maybe… there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.”

Simon makes this very insightful remark in Chapter 5, showing us an understanding of human nature beyond his years. However, in this part of the book, the children do not yet understand what he means.

“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What’s grownups going to think?”

Piggy speaks these lines to Ralph in Chapter 5, after seeing that Ralph is not asserting his authority as the leader of the group. This shows us that Piggy remains the sane voice who recognizes that the others are turning savage and wild.

Through this conversation, he urges Ralph to take responsibility, also drawing on social norms by his reference to grownups, even though there’s none on the island with them.

“I’m the Beast… You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you.”

In Chapter 8, the Lord of the Flies (the pig’s head) confirms the comment that Simon made in Chapter 5 about the beast being inside of them. This summarizes the author’s own perspective about human nature having the propensity for evil within us.

“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.”

Toward the end of the book, the group of hunters have killed Piggy, whom Ralph considers his wise friend, and are also hunting Ralph down through the forest. Ralph comes face to face with a British officer who has landed on the island in search of missing soldiers. He grieves for their loss of innocence as children as he reflects on how they became savages on that deserted island.

**What Is the Main Message of The Lord of the Flies?**

Throughout the story, William Golding is telling us that human beings need to have rules, government, and submission to authority to keep us safe from our darker human impulses.

As we see in the story, people who are left on their own with no discipline or rules can spiral down into a base existence driven purely by animal instinct.

What Does the Lord of the Flies Symbolize?

The “Lord of the Flies” can be considered a physical manifestation of the beast, or a picture of the power of evil. One way of looking at it is that it’s a kind of Satanic character that stirs up the beast inside every human being.

Some critics feel that looking at the book in terms of biblical parallels, the “lord of the flies” represents Satan, while Simon represents Jesus. In a way, the tendency towards evil, which we see manifesting in many of the characters, can be likened to the biblical idea of being tempted by the devil to do evil. On the other hand, Simon’s self-sacrificing character can be likened to the historical and biblical figure of Jesus, who gave himself for the sake of others.

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