Peter Pan is a beloved classic book, and for good reason! There are so many delightful Peter Pan quotes that remind us to savor the joy of youth and excitement.
So if you’re looking for a good Peter Pan quote or trying to find that one quote you remember, this is an excellent place to look! You’ll find these Peter Pan book quotes to be the best of the best, and they’re listed in the order they appear in the book so you can easily find them again.
1. All children, except one, grow up. – Chapter 1, “Peter Breaks Through”
2. Henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end. – Chapter 1, “Peter Breaks Through”
3. The way Mr. Darling won [Mrs. Darling] was this: the many gentlemen who had been boys when she was a girl discovered simultaneously that they loved her, and they all ran to her house to propose to her except Mr. Darling, who took a cab and nipped in first, and so he got her. – Chapter 1, “Peter Breaks Through”
4. Mrs. Darling loved to have everything just so, and Mr. Darling had a passion for being exactly like his neighbours; so, of course, they had a nurse. As they were poor, owing to the amount of milk the children drank, this nurse was a prim Newfoundland dog, called Nana, who had belonged to no one in particular until the Darlings engaged her. – Chapter 1, “Peter Breaks Through”
5. It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day. If you could keep awake (but of course you can’t) you would see your own mother doing this, and you would find it very interesting to watch her. It is quite like tidying up drawers. – Chapter 1, “Peter Breaks Through”
6. The Neverland is always more or less an island, with astonishing splashes of colour here and there, and coral reefs and rakish-looking craft in the offing, and savages and lonely lairs, and gnomes who are mostly tailors, and caves through which a river runs, and princes with six elder brothers, and a hut fast going to decay, and one very small old lady with a hooked nose. – Chapter 1, “Peter Breaks Through”
7. Of all delectable islands the Neverland is the snuggest and most compact, not large and sprawly, you know, with tedious distances between one adventure and another, but nicely crammed. When you play at it by day with the chairs and table-cloth, it is not in the least alarming, but in the two minutes before you go to sleep it becomes very real. That is why there are night-lights. – Chapter 1, “Peter Breaks Through”
8. She returned to the nursery, and found Nana with something in her mouth, which proved to be the boy’s shadow. As he leapt at the window Nana had closed it quickly, too late to catch him, but his shadow had not had time to get out; slam went the window and snapped it off. – Chapter 2, “The Shadow”
9. [Mr. Darling] had no real mastery of his tie. Sometimes the thing yielded to him without a contest, but there were occasions when it would have been better for the house if he had swallowed his pride and used a made-up tie. – Chapter 2, “The Shadow”
10. Even Michael, already half asleep, knew that she was perturbed, and he asked, “Can anything harm us, mother, after the night-lights are lit?” “Nothing, precious,” she said; “they are the eyes a mother leaves behind her to guard her children.” – Chapter 2, “The Shadow”
11. Stars are beautiful, but they may not take an active part in anything, they must just look on for ever. – Chapter 2, “The Shadow”
12. His sobs woke Wendy, and she sat up in bed. She was not alarmed to see a stranger crying on the nursery floor; she was only pleasantly interested. “Boy,” she said courteously, “why are you crying?” – Chapter 3, “Come Away, Come Away!”
13. Then Wendy saw the shadow on the floor, looking so draggled, and she was frightfully sorry for Peter. “How awful!” she said, but she could not help smiling when she saw that he had been trying to stick it on with soap. How exactly like a boy! – Chapter 3, “Come Away, Come Away!”
14. “Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys.” – Chapter 3, “Come Away, Come Away!”
15. She also said she would give him a kiss if he liked, but Peter did not know what she meant, and he held out his hand expectantly. “Surely you know what a kiss is?” she asked, aghast. “I shall know when you give it to me,” he replied stiffly, and not to hurt his feeling she gave him a thimble. “Now,” said he, “shall I give you a kiss?” and she replied with a slight primness, “If you please.” She made herself rather cheap by inclining her face toward him, but he merely dropped an acorn button into her hand, so she slowly returned her face to where it had been before, and said nicely that she would wear his kiss on the chain around her neck. – Chapter 3, “Come Away, Come Away!”
16. “You see children know such a lot now, they soon don’t believe in fairies, and every time a child says, ‘I don’t believe in fairies,’ there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.” – Chapter 3, “Come Away, Come Away!”
17. “But where do you live mostly now?” “With the lost boys.” “Who are they?” “They are the children who fall out of their perambulators when the nurse is looking the other way. If they are not claimed in seven days they are sent far away to the Neverland to defray expenses. I’m captain.” – Chapter 3, “Come Away, Come Away!”
18. “Are none of the others girls?” “Oh, no; girls, you know, are much too clever to fall out of their prams.” – Chapter 3, “Come Away, Come Away!”
19. “Oh dear,” said the nice Wendy, “I don’t mean a kiss, I mean a thimble.” “What’s that?” “It’s like this.” She kissed him. “Funny!” said Peter gravely. “Now shall I give you a thimble?” “If you wish to,” said Wendy, keeping her head erect this time. Peter thimbled her. – Chapter 3, “Come Away, Come Away!”
20. “Do you know,” Peter asked “why swallows build in the eaves of houses? It is to listen to the stories.” – Chapter 3, “Come Away, Come Away!”
21. “Wendy, Wendy, when you are sleeping in your silly bed you might be flying about with me saying funny things to the stars.” – Chapter 3, “Come Away, Come Away!”
22. “You just think lovely wonderful thoughts,” Peter explained, “and they lift you up in the air.” – Chapter 3, “Come Away, Come Away!”
23. “Second to the right, and straight on till morning.” – Chapter 4, “The Flight”
24. That, Peter had told Wendy, was the way to the Neverland; but even birds, carrying maps and consulting them at windy corners, could not have sighted it with these instructions. Peter, you see, just said anything that came into his head. – Chapter 4, “The Flight”
25. Certainly they did not pretend to be sleepy, they were sleepy; and that was a danger, for the moment they popped off, down they fell. The awful thing was that Peter thought this funny. “There he goes again!” he would cry gleefully, as Michael suddenly dropped like a stone. – Chapter 4, “The Flight”
26. “Would you like an adventure now,” he said casually to John, “or would you like to have your tea first?” – Chapter 4, “The Flight”
27. Tink was not all bad; or, rather, she was all bad just now, but, on the other hand, sometimes she was all good. Fairies have to be one thing or the other, because being so small they unfortunately have room for one feeling only at a time. – Chapter 4, “The Flight”
28. Feeling that Peter was on his way back, the Neverland had again woke into life. We ought to use the pluperfect and say wakened, but woke is better and was always used by Peter. – Chapter 5, “The Island Come True”
29. Curly is fourth; he is a pickle, and so often has he had to deliver up his person when Peter said sternly, “Stand forth the one who did this thing,” that now at the command he stands forth automatically whether he has done it or not. – Chapter 5, “The Island Come True”
30. “Shall I after him, Captain,” asked pathetic Smee, “and tickle him with Johnny Corkscrew?” Smee had pleasant names for everything, and his cutlass was Johnny Corkscrew, because he wiggled it in the wound. One could mention many lovable traits in Smee. For instance, after killing, it was his spectacles he wiped instead of his weapon. – Chapter 5, “The Island Come True”
31. “Peter flung my arm,” he said, wincing, “to a crocodile that happened to be passing by.” “I have often,” said Smee, “noticed your strange dread of crocodiles.” “Not of crocodiles,” Hook corrected him, “but of that one crocodile.” He lowered his voice. “It liked my arm so much, Smee, that it has followed me ever since, from sea to sea and from land to land, licking its lips for the rest of me.” “In a way,” said Smee, “it’s sort of a compliment.” – Chapter 5, “The Island Come True”
32. He sat down on a large mushroom, and now there was a quiver in his voice. “Smee,” he said huskily, “that crocodile would have had me before this, but by a lucky chance it swallowed a clock which goes tick tick inside it, and so before it can reach me I hear the tick and bolt.” He laughed, but in a hollow way. “Some day,” said Smee, “the clock will run down, and then he’ll get you.” – Chapter 5, “The Island Come True”
33. The difference between him and the other boys at such a time was that they knew it was make-believe, while to him make-believe and true were exactly the same thing. This sometimes troubled them, as when they had to make-believe that they had had their dinners. – Chapter 6, “The Little House”
34. “All look your best,” Peter warned them; “first impressions are awfully important.” He was glad no one asked him what first impressions are; they were all too busy looking their best. – Chapter 6, “The Little House”
35. “What’s a mother?” asked the ignorant Smee. Wendy was so shocked that she exclaimed. “He doesn’t know!” and always after this she felt that if you could have a pet pirate Smee would be her one. – Chapter 8, “The Mermaids’ Lagoon”
36. Hook tried a more ingratiating manner. “If you are Hook,” he said almost humbly, “come tell me, who am I?” “A codfish,” replied the voice, “only a codfish.” “A codfish!” Hook echoed blankly, and it was then, but not till then, that his proud spirit broke. He saw his men draw back from him. “Have we been captained all this time by a codfish!” they muttered. “It is lowering to our pride.” – Chapter 8, “The Mermaids’ Lagoon”
37. “To die will be an awfully big adventure.” – Chapter 8, “The Mermaids’ Lagoon”
38. Of course when Peter landed he beached his barque in a place where the bird would easily find it; but the hat was such a great success that she abandoned the nest. It drifted about till it went to pieces, and often Starkey came to the shore of the lagoon, and with many bitter feelings watched the bird sitting on his hat. As we shall not see her again, it may be worth mentioning here that all Never birds now build in that shape of nest, with a broad brim on which the youngsters take an airing. – Chapter 9, “The Never Bird”
39. Every boy had adventures to tell; but perhaps the biggest adventure of all was that they were several hours late for bed. – Chapter 9, “The Never Bird”
40. The way you got the time on the island was to find the crocodile, and then stay near him till the clock struck. – Chapter 10, “The Happy Home”
41. It was not really Saturday night, at least it may have been, for they had long lost count of the days; but always if they wanted to do anything special they said this was Saturday night, and then they did it. – Chapter 10, “The Happy Home”
42. He had a sudden idea. “Perhaps Tink wants to be my mother?” “You silly ass!” cried Tinker Bell in a passion. – Chapter 10, “The Happy Home”
43. “Yes, it is a dull beginning. I say, let us pretend that it is the end.” – Chapter 10, “The Happy Home”
44. “Long ago,” he said, “I thought like you that my mother would always keep the window open for me, so I stayed away for moons and moons and moons, and then flew back; but the window was barred, for mother had forgotten all about me, and there was another little boy sleeping in my bed.” – Chapter 11, “Wendy’s Story”
45. He was so full of wrath against grown-ups, who, as usual, were spoiling everything, that as soon as he got inside his tree he breathed intentionally quick short breaths at the rate of about five to a second. He did this because there is a saying in the Neverland that, every time you breathe, a grown-up dies; and Peter was killing them off vindictively as fast as possible. – Chapter 11, “Wendy’s Story”
46. Did no feeling of compassion disturb his sombre breast? [Hook] was not wholly evil; he loved flowers (I have been told) and sweet music (he was himself no mean performer on the harpsichord). – Chapter 13, “Do You Believe in Fairies?”
47. But she did not answer. Already she was reeling in the air. “What is the matter with you?” cried Peter, suddenly afraid. “It was poisoned, Peter,” she told him softly; “and now I am going to be dead.” “O Tink, did you drink it to save me?” “Yes.” “But why, Tink?” Her wings would scarcely carry her now, but in reply she alighted on his shoulder and gave his nose a loving bite. She whispered in his ear “You silly ass,” and then, tottering to her chamber, lay down on the bed. – Chapter 13, “Do You Believe in Fairies?”
48. “Do you believe?” he cried. Tink sat up in bed almost briskly to listen to her fate. She fancied she heard answers in the affirmative, and then again she wasn’t sure. “What do you think?” she asked Peter. “If you believe,” he shouted to them, “clap your hands; don’t let Tink die.” – Chapter 13, “Do You Believe in Fairies?”
49. There was little sound, and none agreeable save the whir of the ship’s sewing machine at which Smee sat, ever industrious and obliging, the essence of the commonplace, pathetic Smee. I know not why he was so infinitely pathetic, unless it were because he was so pathetically unaware of it. – Chapter 14, “The Pirate Ship”
50. “Fame, fame, that glittering bauble, it is mine” – Chapter 14, “The Pirate Ship”
51. Hook felt a gloomy desire to make his dying speech, lest presently there should be no time for it. “Better for Hook,” he cried, “if he had had less ambition!” It was in his darkest hours only that he referred to himself in the third person. – Chapter 14, “The Pirate Ship”
52. To tell poor Smee that they thought him lovable! Hook itched to do it, but it seemed too brutal. – Chapter 14, “The Pirate Ship”
53. No words of mine can tell you how Wendy despised those pirates. To the boys there was at least some glamour in the pirate calling; but all that she saw was that the ship had not been tidied for years. There was not a porthole on the grimy glass of which you might not have written with your finger “Dirty pig”; and she had already written it on several. – Chapter 14, “The Pirate Ship”
54. At this moment Wendy was grand. “These are my last words, dear boys,” she said firmly. “I feel that I have a message to you from your real mothers, and it is this: ‘We hope our sons will die like English gentlemen.’” – Chapter 14, “The Pirate Ship”
55. It was Smee who tied her to the mast. “See here, honey,” he whispered, “I’ll save you if you promise to be my mother.” – Chapter 14, “The Pirate Ship”
56. The sound came steadily nearer; and in advance of it came this ghastly thought, “The crocodile is about to board the ship!” – Chapter 14, “The Pirate Ship”
57. Odd things happen to all of us on our way through life without our noticing for a time that they have happened. – Chapter 15, “Hook Or Me This Time”
58. [Peter] ticked superbly, but with one unforeseen result. The crocodile was among those who heard the sound, and it followed him, though whether with the purpose of regaining what it had lost, or merely as a friend under the belief that it was again ticking itself, will never be certainly known. – Chapter 15, “Hook Or Me This Time”
59. “How clever of me!” he thought at once, and signed to the boys not to burst into applause. – Chapter 15, “Hook Or Me This Time”
60. “What’s the matter with Bill Jukes, you dog?” hissed Hook, towering over him. “The matter wi’ him is he’s dead, stabbed,” replied Cecco in a hollow voice. – Chapter 15, “Hook Or Me This Time”
61. “Pan, who and what art thou?” he cried huskily. “I’m youth, I’m joy,” Peter answered at a venture, “I’m a little bird that has broken out of the egg.” – Chapter 15, “Hook Or Me This Time”
62. James Hook, thou not wholly unheroic figure, farewell. – Chapter 15, “Hook Or Me This Time”
63. Seeing Peter slowly advancing upon him through the air with dagger poised, he sprang upon the bulwarks to cast himself into the sea. He did not know that the crocodile was waiting for him; for we purposely stopped the clock that this knowledge might be spared him: a little mark of respect from us at the end. – Chapter 15, “Hook Or Me This Time”
64. Would it not serve them jolly well right if they came back and found that their parents were spending the week-end in the country? It would be the moral lesson they have been in need of ever since we met them. – Chapter 16, “The Return Home”
65. [Mr. Darling] had also a noble sense of justice and a lion’s courage to do what seemed right to him; and having thought the matter out with anxious care after the flight of the children, he went down on all fours and crawled into the kennel. To all Mrs. Darling’s dear invitations to him to come out he replied sadly but firmly: “No, my own one, this is the place for me.” – Chapter 16, “The Return Home”
66. Every morning the kennel was carried with Mr. Darling in it to a cab, which conveyed him to his office, and he returned home in the same way at six. Something of the strength of character of the man will be seen if we remember how sensitive he was to the opinion of neighbours: this man whose every movement now attracted surprised attention. – Chapter 16, “The Return Home”
67. Society invited him to dinner and added, “Do come in the kennel.” – Chapter 16, “The Return Home”
68. Some like Peter best, and some like Wendy best, but I like [Mrs. Darling] best. Suppose, to make her happy, we whisper to her in her sleep that the brats are coming back. – Chapter 16, “The Return Home”
69. “And, George,” she said timidly, “you are as full of remorse as ever, aren’t you?” “Full of remorse as ever, dearest! See my punishment: living in a kennel.” “But it is punishment, isn’t it, George? You are sure you are not enjoying it?” – Chapter 16, “The Return Home”
70. He whispered to Tink, “It’s Wendy’s mother! She is a pretty lady, but not so pretty as my mother. Her mouth is full of thimbles, but not so full as my mother’s was.” – Chapter 16, “The Return Home”
71. Wendy and John had been taken aback somewhat at finding their father in the kennel. “Surely,” said John, like one who had lost faith in his memory, “he used not to sleep in the kennel?” – Chapter 16, “The Return Home”
72. He had had ecstasies innumerable that other children can never know; but he was looking through the window at the one joy from which he must be for ever barred. – Chapter 16, “The Return Home”
73. “Would you send me to school?” he inquired craftily. “Yes.” “And then to an office?” “I suppose so.” “Soon I would be a man?” “Very soon.” “I don’t want to go to school and learn solemn things,” he told her passionately. “I don’t want to be a man. O Wendy’s mother, if I was to wake up and feel there was a beard!” – Chapter 17, “When Wendy Grew Up”
74. “Keep back, lady, no one is going to catch me and make me a man.” – Chapter 17, “When Wendy Grew Up”
75. Of course all the boys went to school [but] before they had attended school a week they saw what goats they had been not to remain on the island; but it was too late now, and soon they settled down to being as ordinary as you or me. – Chapter 17, “When Wendy Grew Up”
76. “I am old, Peter. I am ever so much more than twenty. I grew up long ago.” – Chapter 17, “When Wendy Grew Up”
77. Peter continued to cry, and soon his sobs woke Jane. She sat up in bed, and was interested at once. “Boy,” she said, “why are you crying?” – Chapter 17, “When Wendy Grew Up”
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