They're all so much afraid of the Council that they're not afraid of anything else.

Rabbits (says Mr. Lockley) are like human beings in many ways. One of these is certainly their staunch ability to withstand disaster and to let the stream of their life carry them along, past reaches of terror and loss. They have a certain quality which it would not be accurate to describe as callousness or indifference. It is, rather, a blessedly circumscribed imagination and an intuitive feeling that Life is Now.

Rabbits live close to death and when death comes closer than usual, thinking about survival leaves little room for anything else.

One cloud feels lonely.

I've always said that Watership Down is not a book for children. I say: it's a book, and anyone who wants to read it can read it.

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.

Sooner or later, everyone has to meet his match.