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Peter Pan

by J.M. Barrie

Peter Pan (published in novel form as Peter and Wendy in 1911) is J.M. Barrie's classic story of a boy who refuses to grow up. Living in the far-off island of Neverland with the Lost Boys, Peter flies into the London nursery… more

First published 1911 · 267 pages · English

27 quotes ★ 4.03 (377,675) Classics

Quotes from the Book

To die will be an awfully big adventure.
All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.
The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.
Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.
When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.
Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning.
To live will be an awfully big adventure.
Wendy," Peter Pan continued in a voice that no woman has ever yet been able to resist, "Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys.
All children, except one, grow up.
Stars are beautiful, but they may not take part in anything, they must just look on forever.
Build a house?" exclaimed John. "For the Wendy," said Curly. "For Wendy?" John said, aghast. "Why, she is only a girl!" "That," explained Curly, "is why we are her servants.
Fairies have to be one thing or the other, because being so small they unfortunately have room for one feeling only at a time.
You need not be sorry for her. She was one of the kind that likes to grow up. In the end she grew up of her own free will a day quicker than the other girls.
You know that place between sleep and awake, that place where you still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you. That’s where I’ll be waiting.
There could not have been a lovelier sight; but there was none to see it except a little boy who was staring in at the window. He 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.
If you cannot teach me to fly, teach me to sing.
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.
I suppose it's like the ticking crocodile, isn't it? Time is chasing after all of us.
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.
I taught you to fight and to fly. What more could there be?
If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one, you may see at times a shapeless pool of lovely pale colours suspended in the darkness; then if you squeeze your eyes tighter, the pool begins to take shape, and the colours become so vivid that with another squeeze they must go on fire.
Just always be waiting for me.
Stars are beautiful, but they may not take an active part in anything, they must just look on for ever. It is a punishment put on them for something they did so long ago that no star now knows what it was. So the older ones have become glassy-eyed and seldom speak (winking is the star language), but the little ones still wonder.
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.
She asked where he lived. Second to the right,' said Peter, 'and then straight on till morning.
There is a saying in the Neverland that,every time you breathe, a grown-up dies.
She was a lovely lady, with a romantic mind and such a sweet mocking mouth. Her romantic mind was like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East, however many you discover there is always one more; and her sweet mocking mouth had one kiss on it that Wendy could never get, though there it was, perfectly conspicuous in the right-hand corner.

Did you know?

  • The character Peter Pan first appeared in Barrie's 1902 novel The Little White Bird.
  • The story originated as the 1904 stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, which premiered at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on 27 December 1904.
  • The novel version was published in 1911 under the title Peter and Wendy.
  • In 1929 J.M. Barrie gave the copyright of Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital, which still receives royalties from it.
  • A special provision in the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 grants the hospital a right to royalties from Peter Pan in perpetuity in the UK.
  • Disney released a famous animated film adaptation of the story in 1953.

About J.M. Barrie

Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright best known for creating Peter Pan. He famously bequeathed the rights to the Peter Pan works to Great Ormond Street Hospital for children in London.

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About the book

Peter Pan (published in novel form as Peter and Wendy in 1911) is J.M. Barrie's classic story of a boy who refuses to grow up. Living in the far-off island of Neverland with the Lost Boys, Peter flies into the London nursery of the Darling children and carries Wendy, John, and Michael away to a world of mermaids, fairies, pirates, and adventure. There they encounter the vengeful pirate Captain Hook before the Darling children eventually return home to grow up, while Peter remains forever young.

The book grew out of Barrie's 1904 stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, and the character had first appeared in Barrie's 1902 novel The Little White Bird. Its central themes are the tension between childhood and adulthood, the bittersweet loss of innocence, and the pull between the freedom of eternal youth and the comforts of home and family. Barrie frames the whole tale with a narrator's wistful awareness that all children, except one, grow up.

Peter Pan has become one of the most enduring works of children's literature, giving popular culture Neverland, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, and the phrase 'the boy who wouldn't grow up.' In 1929 Barrie gave the copyright of the Peter Pan works to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, which continues to benefit from it. The story has been adapted many times for stage and screen, most famously as Disney's 1953 animated film.

Key characters

  • Peter PanThe boy who refuses to grow up and can fly, leader of the Lost Boys
  • Wendy DarlingThe eldest Darling child who becomes a mother figure to the Lost Boys
  • John and Michael DarlingWendy's younger brothers who join Peter's adventures
  • Tinker BellPeter's fairy companion, jealously devoted to him
  • Captain HookThe vengeful pirate captain and Peter's chief enemy
  • Tiger LilyA Native American princess whom Peter rescues
  • The Lost BoysChildren living with Peter in Neverland

Book details

First published
1911
Length
267 pages
Reading time
4 hours
Goodreads rating
4.03 (378k ratings)
First line
“All children, except one, grow up.”

Movie & TV adaptations

  • IMDb
    Peter Pan (Disney animated film) 1953

    Walt Disney's classic animated feature adaptation

  • IMDb
    Peter Pan 2003

    Live-action film directed by P.J. Hogan

If you liked this, read…

  1. 1
    Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAnother classic tale of a child journeying into a fantastical world
  2. 2
    The Wonderful Wizard of OzA child transported to a magical land of adventure
  3. 3
    The Little White BirdBarrie's earlier work in which Peter Pan first appeared

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