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.

We are all human and fall short of where we need to be. We must never stop trying to be the best we can be.

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.

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

If a rabbit gave advice and the advice wasn't accepted, he immediately forgot it, and so did everyone else.

All the world will be your enemy, Prince of a Thousand enemies. And when they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you; digger, listener, runner, Prince with the swift warning. Be cunning, and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed.

A thing can be true and still be desperate folly.