James M. Barrie

When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.

There are many different kinds of bravery. There's the bravery of thinking of others before one's self. Now, your father has never brandished a sword nor fired a pistol, thank heavens. But he has made many sacrifices for his family, and put away many dreams... He put them in a drawer. And sometimes, late at night, we take them out and admire them. But it gets harder and harder to close the drawer... He does. And that is why he is brave.

A moment after the fairy's entrance the window was blown open by the breathing of the little stars, and Peter dropped in.

I suppose it's like the ticking crocodile, isn't it? Time is chasing after all of us.

They knew in what they called their hearts that one can get on quite well without a mother, and that it is only the mothers who think you can't.

All are keeping a sharp look-out in front, but none suspects that the danger may be creeping up from behind.

Forget them, Wendy. Forget them all. Come with me where you'll never, never have to worry about grown up things again.

David tells me that fairies never say 'We feel happy': what they say is, 'We feel dancey'.

It is frightfully difficult to know much about the fairies, and almost the only thing for certain is that there are fairies wherever there are children.

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 everytime you breathe, a grown-up dies; and Peter was killing them of vindictively as fast as possible.

Next moment he was standing erect on the rock again, with that smile on his face and a drum beating within him. It was saying, "To die will be an awfully big adventure.

Fairies don’t live long, but they are so little that a short time seems a good while to them

...and thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.

Will they reach the nursery in time? If so, how delightful for them, and we shall all breathe a sigh of relief, but there will be no story. On the other hand, if they are not in time, I solemnly promise that it will all come right in the end.

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. They are, however, allowed to change, only it must be a complete change.

Our heroine knew that the mother would always leave the window open for her children to fly back by; so they stayed away for years and had a lovely time.

Second to the right, and straight on till morning.' 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.

The last thing he ever said to me was, 'Just always be waiting for me, and then some night you will hear me crowing.

There is a saying in the Neverland that,every time you breathe, a grown-up dies.