William Golding Quotes

"He says the beast comes out of the sea."
The last laugh died away. Ralph turned involuntarily, a black, humped figure against the lagoon. The assembly looked with him, considered the vast stretches of water, the high sea of beyond, unknown indigo of infinite possibility, heard silently the sough and whisper from the reef

حال دیگر نور آفتاب رفته بود و تاریکی بیرون می‌آمد. راه‌های میان درختان دیگر دیده نمی‌شد و همه‌جا همچون کف دریا تیره‌وتار و شگفت می‌نمود. گل‌های بازشده سفیدرنگ زیر نور ستاره‌ها می‌درخشیدند.

And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of mans heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.

Elimde bu denizkabuğuyla ona gideceğim. Denizkabuğunu uzatacağım. Bak, diyeceğim, sen benden daha güçlüsün; benim gibi astımın da yok. Sen görebiliyorsun, diyeceğim; iki gözün de görebiliyor. Bana bir iyilik yap da, gözlüğümü geri ver demiyorum, diyeceğim. Sen güçlüsün diye efendice davranmanı da rica etmiyorum, diyeceğim. Doğru olan doğrudur. Doğruyu yapman için sana bunu söylüyorum diyeceğim. Gözlüğümü bana ver, Gözlüğümü bana vermek zorundasın diyeceğim.

We musn't let anything happen to Piggy, must we?

Joe Keohane, “Politically Correct ‘Lord of the Flies,’” The New Yorker, September 9, 2015 This humorous essay recasts many of the novel’s most emblematic moments in a mashup of politically correct sensibilities. Here debates aren’t about who should be chief; instead they’re about the need to eschew noninclusive language, create a safe space, and recognize the blind spots that accompany positions of privilege. A great example of how satire asks us to poke fun at ourselves, and a text that adds welcome levity to discussions of an otherwise dark novel.

Bit by bit [the Second World War] really changed my view of what people were capable of, and therefore what human nature was.

Which is better — to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?

The way towards simplicity is through outrage.

If only one had time to think!

Das Bus,” The Simpsons (season 9, episode 14) A tongue-in-cheek retelling full of clever references to Golding’s novel. After their school bus veers off a bridge during a Model United Nations field trip, Bart, Lisa, and their classmates find themselves stranded on a desert island. Overt allusions to fear (of an island monster), hoarding of resources (junk food salvaged from the sunken bus), warring factions (those who support Bart, and those who oppose him), a violent chase scene (Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse running for their lives), and a final voiceover (about how the children learned to function as a society until they were rescued) serve as inside jokes for knowledgeable viewers.

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.

As long as there's light we're brave enough

The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable. The whole book is symbolic in nature except the rescue in the end where adult life appears, dignified and capable, but in reality enmeshed in the same evil as the symbolic life of the children on the island. The officer, having interrupted a man-hunt, prepares to take the children off the island in a cruiser which will presently be hunting its enemy in the same implacable way. And who will rescue the adult and his cruiser?

"Ty naše schůze! A jak si na ně potrpíme! Každý den máme nějakou. Někdy i dvě. Všechno projednáme." ... "Vsadím se, že kdybych teď zatroubil na lasturu, byli by tu všichni jako na koni. Pak bychom náramně slavnostně porozprávěli a někdo by třeba navrhul, že si musíme postavit tryskáč nebo ponorku nebo televizi. A po schůzi by pět minut makali a pak by se rozutekli nebo by šli na hon."