Quotes from Richard Adams

I have learned that with creatures one loves, suffering is not the only thing for which one may pity them. A rabbit who does not know when a gift has made him safe is poorer than a slug, even though he may think otherwise himself.

Odysseus brings not one man to shore with him. Yet he sleeps sound beside Calypso and when he wakes thinks only of Penelope.

He was part of my dream, of course—but then I was part of his dream, too. Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass

even a small warren. This one had

El-arairah is a trickster," said Buckthorn. "And rabbits will always need tricks.

Well,' replied Tony, 'I think [Christ's] line would be the same as it always has been - that [sex without marriage] is understandable and forgivable, but wrong to the extent that it's less than the best.

Can you run?" said Hazel. "I think not. Why you pop-eyed, back-door saucer-scraper—

Oh, Fairy Wogdog!' cried Rowsby Woof, dribbling and piddling all over the gravel. 'Ah, what elegance! What aristocratic distinction! Can that really be decayed cat that I smell? With a delicate overtone of rotten camel! Ah, the gorgeous East!

He looked as though he knew how to take care of himself. There was a shrewd, buoyant air about him as he sat up, looked round and rubbed both front paws over his nose.

Sometimes I can tell these things, too: but not often now for my heart is in the frost.

Why do the men come, do you suppose?" asked Fiver. "Who knows why men do anything? They may drive cows or sheep in the fields, or cut wood in the copses. What does it matter? I'd rather dodge a man than a stoat or a fox.

My courage— my spirit: it's so much less than it was. I'm afraid to let you rely on me.

I am the Fairy Wogdog, messenger of the great dog spirit of the East, Queen Dripslobber. Far, far in the East her palace lies! Ah, Rowsby Woof, if only you could see her mighty state, the wonders of her kingdom! The carrion that lies far and wide upon the sands! The manure, Rowsby Woof! The open sewers! Oh how you would jump for joy and run nosing all about!

Molti uomini dicono di godersi l'inverno, ma ciò che in realtà si godono è il sentirsi al riparo da esso.L'inverno non può nuocere, quindi accresce il loro senso di sicurezza, di ingegnosità.

Why, all of you," answered the other, surprised. "You don't want to stay out in the rain, do you?

Those are rabbits down there, trotting along like a lot of squirrels with nuts. How can that be right?

And at once he went on with his burden, as though afraid that he might already have said too much in this country where the past was sharp splinters embedded in men's minds and an ill-judged word a false step in the dark.

When they got there, the first thing they saw was the man himself, with a white stick burning away in his mouth, cutting row after row of frosted cabbages. Rowsby Woof was with him, wagging his tail and jumping about in a ridiculous manner. After

Voir s'achever le temps de l'angoisse et de la crainte ! Voir se lever puis se dissoudre les nuées lugubres suspendues au-dessus de nous — ces sombres nuages qui attristent le cÅ"ur et réduisent le bonheur à un vague souvenir ! Rares sont les êtres qui n'ont jamais éprouvé cette joie-là.

a land In which it seemed always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon

beetle-spirited vaporing

And from that day to this, no power on earth can keep a rabbit out of a vegetable garden, for El-ahrairah prompts them with a thousand tricks, the best in the world.

Why should he think me cruel Or that he is betrayed? I'd have him love the thing that was Before the world was made. W. B. Yeats, A Woman Young and Old

It was not long before Fiver found what they were looking for.