195 Best Quotes About the Fire in Lord of the Flies

1. “He capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.”

2. “We can do without ’em. We’ll be happier now, won’t we?”

3. “The creature was a party of boys, marching approximately in step in two parallel lines and dressed in strangely eccentric clothing.”

4. “This head is for the beast. It’s a gift.”

5. “They were black and iridescent green and without number; and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned. At last Simon gave up and looked back; saw the white teeth and dim eyes, the blood—and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition. In Simon’s right temple, a pulse began to beat on the brain.”

6. “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!”

7. “How can we make a fire?”

8. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they are?”

9. “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”

10. “Piggy moved among the crowd, asking names and frowning to remember them. The children gave him the same simple obedience that they had given to the man with the megaphones.”

11. “They always been making trouble, haven’t they?”

12. “They talk and scream. The littluns. Even some of the others. As if—”

13. “…they grew accustomed to these mysteries and ignored them, just as they ignored the miraculous, the throbbing stars.”

14. “Fires are like lives, they are started and they are ended.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

15. “the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.”

16. ...Ralph wept for for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.

17. “Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of the sky found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society. They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made it governable”

18. “The mask was a thing on it’s own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.”

19. “If you don’t blow, we’ll soon be animals anyway.”

20. “Grownups know things,” said Piggy. “They ain’t afraid of the dark. They’d meet and have tea and discuss. Then things ’ud be all right—”

21. “The fire had a mesmerizing effect, drawing them in like moths to a flame.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

22. “I mean the way things are. They dream. You can hear ‘em. Have you been awake at night?” Jack shook his head.

23. “The fire roared in approval, crackling with life as it consumed everything in its path.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

24. “Well. They’re frightened.”

25. “Simon, walking in front of Ralph, felt a flicker of incredulity—a beast with claws that scratched, that sat on a mountain-top, that left no tracks and yet was not fast enough to catch Samneric. However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human, at once heroic and sick.”

26. “Within the irregular arc of coral the lagoon was still as a mountain lake—blue of all shades and shadowy green and purple.”

27. “You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil.”

28. “As if it wasn’t a good island.”

29. “Then the sea breathed out again in a long slow sigh, the water boiled white and pink over the rock; and when it went, sucking back again, the body of Piggy was gone.”

30. “I could swim when I was five. Daddy taught me. He’s a commander in the Navy. When he gets leave he’ll come and rescue us. What’s your father?”

31. “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”

32. “The fire roared like a monster, its hunger threatening to devour them whole.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

33. “The pile was so rotten, and now so tinder-dry, that whole limbs yielded passionately to the yellow flames that poured upwards and shook a great beard of flame twenty feet in the air”

34. “Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for [the littluns] the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands.”

35. “He snatched his knife out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk. Next time there would be no mercy,”

36. “He saw the darkness within himself spreading, devouring his memories of the fire.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies “The fire grew stronger, a bright flame against the darkness, promising salvation.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

37. “The fire was an insurance policy against the end of the world.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

38. “Even the sounds of nightmare from the other shelters no longer reached him, for he was back to where came from, feeding the ponies with sugar over the garden wall.”

39. “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!”

40. “If only one had time to think!”

41. “Fire is a friend or foe, whether you can control it or not.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

42. “Unless we get frightened of people.”

43. “The fire burned bright, a beacon of hope in a world that had lost its way.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

44. “This is our island. It’s a good island. Until the grownups come to fetch us we’ll have fun.”

45. “What I mean is . . . maybe it’s only us”

46. “You’ve noticed, haven’t you?”

47. “The fire was their silent witness, watching as their civilization crumbled to ashes.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

48. “His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.”

49. “Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It 's a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other,” these are the words of Eric Burdon that summarize the events that took place in Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell. In Lord of the Flies, young boys were stranded on a deserted island during a world war and were striving to survive in a civilized manner. Similarly, in The Most Dangerous Game, a man named Rainsford found himself on an isolated island owned by a man who enjoyed hunting humans for fun, and so this man forced Rainsford to become the prey of his hunting game. Though the plot of the stories differs, one concept persists in both texts

50. “A fat lot you tried” Jack says.

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

52. “Jack.” A taboo was evolving round that word too.

53. “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.”

54. “Percival Wemys Madison, The Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony, Hants, telephone, telephone, tele-“

55. “… what makes things break up like they do?”

56. “Once more, amid the breeze, the shouting, the slanting sunlight on the high mountain, was shed that glamour, that strange invisible light of friendship, adventure and content.”

57. “Come away. There’s going to be trouble. And we’ve had our meat.”

58. “Thought was a valuable thing, that got results.”

59. “Acting like a crowd of kids!”

60. “The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away.”

61. “His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

62. “Someone was throwing stones. Roger was dropping them, his one hand still on the lever. Below him, Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat.”

63. ‘I’m chief. I’ll go. Don’t argue.’ ”

64. “Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law.”

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

66. “His specs – use them as burning glasses! ”

67. “There is nothing in it of course. Just a feeling. But you can feel as if you’re not hunting, but – being hunted, as if something’s behind you all the time in the jungle.”

68. “I know there isn’t no beast—not with claws and all that, I mean—but I know there isn’t no fear, either…Unless we get frightened of people.”

69. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist … Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed.”

70. “Are we savages or what?”

71. “Her bows [were] hauled up and held by two ratings. In the stern-sheets another rating held a sub-machine gun.”

72. “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”

73. “The fire is the main comfort of the camp – the fire burns, and we are warmed.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

74. “He lost himself in a maze of thoughts that were rendered vague by his lack of words to express them. Frowning, he tried again.”

75. “I ought to be chief,” said Jack with simple arrogance, “because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.”

76. “Yes,” he said, “I suppose it must be.”

77. “Ralph took the conch from where it lay on the polished seat and held it to his lips; but then he hesitated and did not blow. He held the shell up instead and showed it to them and they understood.”

78. “The greatest ideas are the simplest. Now there was something to be done they worked with passion”

79. “The fire consumed the darkness, illuminating the island and all the horrors concealed within.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

80. “He knelt among the shadows and felt his isolation bitterly. They were savages it was true; but they were human.”

81. “Whee-oh!” / “Wacco!” / “Boing!” / “Doink!”

82. “The chief was sitting there, naked to the waist, his face blocked out in white and red. The tribe lay in a semicircle before him.”

83. “Something deep in Ralph spoke for him.

84. ...the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.

85. “A spring had been tapped, far beyond the reach of authority or even physical intimidation. The crying went on, breath after breath, and seemed to sustain him upright as if he were nailed to it.”

86. “People don’t help much.”

87. “The fire, a constant reminder of their vulnerability and their primal nature.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

88. “Jack planned his new face. He made one cheek and one eye-socket white, then he rubbed red over the other half of his face and slashed a black bar of charcoal across from right ear to left jaw.”

89. “They used to call me Piggy!”

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

91. “Ralph… would treat the day’s decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player.”

92. “A little boy who wore the remains of an extraordinary black cap on his red hair and who carried the remains of a pair of spectacles at his waist, started forward, then changed his mind and stood still.”

93. “They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling unable to communicate.”

94. “He was searching for something; something he could hear panting in the night…and through the fire.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

95. “There was a fire blazing away and no smoke at all.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

96. “The officer, surrounded by these noises, was moved and a little embarrassed. He turned away to give them time to pull themselves together; and waited, allowing his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser in the distance. (The Last Line)

97. “Shut up,” said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things.”

98. “He became absorbed beyond mere happiness as he felt himself exercising control over living things. He talked to them, urging them, ordering them. Driven back by the tide, his footprints became bays in which they were trapped and gave him the illusion of mastery.”

99. “Ralph launched himself like a cat; stabbed, snarling, with the spear, and the savage doubled up.”

100. “Which is better—to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?”

101. “If faces were different when lit from above or below — what was a face? What was anything?”

102. “We’ve got to talk about this fear and decide there’s nothing in it.”

103. “The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life.”

104. “If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued.”

105. “The fire had taken on a life of its own, roaring with a hunger that could never be sated.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

106. ...there was a space around Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law. Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.

107. “Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth. There was blackness within, a blackness that spread.”

108. “We’ll raid them and take fire.”

109. “The mask was a thing on it’s own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-conciousness.”

110. “The mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed”

111. “The smaller boys were known by the generic title of “littluns.”

112. ‘Piggy glanced nervously into hell’ “That was our firewood” We should “put first things first”

113. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . .”

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

115. “A semicircle of little boys, their bodies streaked with colored clay, sharp sticks in their hands, were standing on the beach making no noise at all.”

116. “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—!”

117. “That little ‘un that had a mark on his face—where is he now? I tell you I don’t see him.”

118. “A chief! A chief!”

119. “There had grown up tacitly among the biguns the opinion that Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and assmar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labor. ”

120. “He tended to the fire like a caretaker of life, nurturing it with his own breath.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies QUOTES GRAPPIG KORT

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

122. “As if,” said Simon, “the beastie, the beastie or the snake-thing, was real. Remember?”

123. “Which is better–to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?”

124. “As long as there’s light we’re brave enough”

125. “Here was a coral island. Protected from the sun, ignoring Piggy’s ill-omened talk, he dreamed pleasantly.”

126. ‘Have you watched a fireback as the fire dies down? How the sparks move through the layer of soot on the metal as if they were alive? Have you never seen a fire, apparently dead, brought to life again and flare up?’

127. “Ralph shouted. Hear him! He’s got the conch!

128. “I agree with Ralph. 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. So we’ve got to do the right things.”

129. ‘The boys looked at each other fearfully’, ‘on the unfriendly side of the mountain’, Ralph speaks ‘as if in shame’

130. “Unless—”

131. “If you could shut your ears to the slow suck down of the sea and boil of the return, if you could forget how dun and unvisited were the ferny coverts on either side, then there was a chance that you might put the beast out of mind and dream for a while.”

132. “I dunno, Ralph. We just got to go on, that’s all. That’s what grown-ups would do.”

133. “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed and threw it at Henry-threw it to miss. The stone, that token of preposterous time, bounced five yards to Henry’s right and fell in the water. Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law. Roger was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.”

134. ‘the fire laid hold on the forest and began to gnaw’ ‘a quarter of a mile square of forest was savage with smoke and flame’ The boys are silent ‘feeling the beginnings of awe at the power set free below them’

135. “But they’ll be painted! You know how it is.”

136. “I know there isn’t no beast—not with claws and all that, I mean—but I know there isn’t no fear, either.”

137. “He swung to the right, running desperately fast, with the heat beating on his left side and the fire racing forward like a tide.”

138. “Didn’t you hear what the pilot said? About the atom bomb? They’re all dead.”

139. “There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.”

140. “Give me my specs!”

141. “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.”

142. “Grownups know things,” said Piggy. “They ain’t afraid of the dark. They’d meet and have tea and discuss. Then things ‘ud be all right-”

143. “Theres another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain.“Theres another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not

144. “Which is better — to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?

145. ″‘Then we must go as we are,’ said Ralph, ‘and they won’t be any better.’ Eric made a detaining gesture.

146. “Sucks to your ass-mar!”

147. “Life […] is scientific, that’s what it is. In a year or two when the war is over they’ll be traveling to Mars and back. I know there isn’t no beast—not with claws and all that I mean—but I know there isn’t no fear either. . . Unless we get frightened of people.”

148. “Within the diamond haze of the beach something dark was fumbling along. Ralph saw it first, and watched until the intentness of his gaze drew all eyes that way. Then the creature stepped from mirage onto clear sand, and they saw that the darkness was not all shadow but mostly clothing. The creature was a party of boys”

149. “I thought I might kill.”

150. “They accepted the pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air, as a time when play was good and life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten.”

151. “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”

152. “He watched the fire dance, the flames revealing visions of both destruction and liberation.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

153. ‘the shameful knowledge grew in them’ ‘they did not know how to begin confession’ of their ‘incompetence’

154. “Jack?”

155. “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.”

156. “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.”

157. “Ralph sat on a fallen trunk, his left side to the sun. On his right were most of the choir; on his left the larger boys who had not known each other before the evacuation; before him small children squatted in the grass.”

158. “Now you done it. You been rude about his hunters.”

159. “Apart from food and sleep, they found time for play, aimless and trivial, in the white sand by the bright water. They cried for their mothers much less often than might have been expected; they were very brown, and filthily dirty.”

160. “I’m chief,” said Ralph, “because you chose me. And we were going to keep the fire going. Now you run after food—”

161. “A circling movement developed and a chant. While Roger mimed the terror of the pig, the littluns ran and jumped on the outside of the circle.”

162. “That’s right. We was on the outside. We never done nothing, we never seen nothing.”

163. “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.”

164. "In Blues Ain't No Mockingbird what does the sh...

165. “We’re all drifting and things are going rotten. At home there was always a grownup. Please, sir; please, miss; and then you got an answer. How I wish!”

166. “The ground beneath them was a bank covered with sparse grass, torn everywhere by the upheavals of fallen trees, scattered with decaying coconuts and palm saplings. Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and the open space of the scar.”

167. “He found himself understanding the wearisomeness of this life, where every path was an improvisation and a considerable part of one’s waking life was spent watching one’s feet.”

168. “Life’s scientific, but we don’t know, do we? Not certainly, I mean.”

169. ‘The white fire, becoming pale pink, then blood-coloured then pink again where it caught smoke or clouds seemed the same as if it were the permanent nature of this place’.

170. “The fire was beginning to die, yet each dawn woke him with restless longing, and each dawn brought him nearer to the ways of the fire and the other things.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

171. “Noticed what?”

172. “The sun in the west was a drop of burning gold that slid nearer and nearer the sill of the world. All at once they were aware of the evening as the end of light and warmth.”

173. “How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper?”

174. “You got your small fire all right.”

175. “He wanted to explain how people were never quite what you thought they were.”

176. “Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of the sky, found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society. They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made it governable.”

177. “This last piece of shop brought sniggers from the choir, who perched like black birds on the criss-cross trunks and examined Ralph with interest.”

178. “Towards midnight the rain ceased and the clouds drifted away, so that the sky was scattered once more with the incredible lamps of stars. Then the breeze died too and there was no noise save the drip and tickle of water that ran out of clefts and spilled down, leaf by leaf, to the brown earth of the island. The air was cool, moist, and clear; and presently even the sound of the water was still. The beast lay huddled on the pale beach and the stains spread, inch by inch.

179. “Unless what?”

180. “But nobody else understands about the fire. If someone threw you a rope when you were drowning. If a doctor said take this because if you don’t take you’ll die – you would, wouldn’t you?”

181. “Simon stirred in the dark. “Go on being chief.” “You shut up, young Simon! Why couldn’t you say there wasn’t a beast?” “I’m scared of him,” said Piggy, “and that’s why I know him. If you’re scared of someone you hate him but you can’t stop thinking about him. You kid yourself he’s all right really, an’ then when you see him again; it’s like asthma an’ you can’t breathe. I tell you what. He hates you too, Ralph—” “Me? Why me?” “I dunno. You got him over the fire; an’ you’re chief an’ he isn’t.” “But he’s, he’s, Jack Merridew!” “I been in bed so much I done some thinking. I know about people. I know about me. And him. He can’t hurt you: but if you stand out of the way he’d hurt the next thing. And that’s me.”

182. “The fire spoke to them, beckoning them closer, promising warmth and safety.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

183. “The flames, as though they were a kind of wild life, crept as a jaguar creeps on its belly toward a line of birch-like saplings that fledged an outcrop of the pink rock.”

184. “This was a savage whose image refused to blend with that ancient picture of a boy in shorts and a shirt.”

185. “The fire became their lifeline, their connection to sanity in a world gone mad.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

186. “Then, with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of the children, he picked up the conch, turned toward the forest, and began to pick his way over the tumbled scar.”

187. “I dunno, Ralph. I expect it’s him.”

188. “I ought to be chief…because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.”

189. “He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling.”

190. “The fire, a symbol of their waning humanity, flickering in the face of their descent into savagery.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

191. ‘But they’ll be painted! You know how it is.’

192. “The trouble is: Are there ghosts, Piggy? Or beasts?” “ ’Course there aren’t.” “Why not?” “’Cos things wouldn’t make sense. Houses an’ streets, an’—TV—they wouldn’t work.”

193. “The fire was their only way of communicating with the outside world, their signal of hope.” – William Golding, Lord of the Flies

194. “He opened his eyes quickly and there was the head grinning amusedly in the strange daylight, ignoring the flies, the spilled guts, even ignoring the indignity of being spiked on a stick.”

195. “This time Ralph expressed the intensity of his emotion by pretending to knock Simon down; and soon they were a happy, heaving pile in the under-dusk.”