The brainchild of Scottish writer J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan debuted as a play in London before being published as a book in 1911. Originally titled Peter and Wendy, this literary gem has delighted children and adults alike for more than 100 years. Barrie tells the story of John, Michael and Wendy Darling and what happens when the enigmatic Peter Pan visits their nursery. Peter and his devoted fairy, Tinker Bell, whisk the children away to the magical and mysterious Neverland. This mystical place is home to mermaids, pirates, the lost boys and the fearsome Captain Hook. What follows is a thrilling tale of unimaginable adventures. Peter Pan has gone on to inspire a popular animated Disney film, a Magic Kingdom theme park ride, and a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, which launched a new North American tour, with a revised book, in 2024.
Within an enchanting story for children, Peter Pan explores themes that resonate with fans of all ages. Below are 30+ memorable quotes from this classic.
The best quotes from Peter Pan on magic
"Do you believe in fairies? If you believe, clap your hands!"
"A moment after the fairy's entrance the window was blown open by the breathing of the little stars, and Peter dropped in."
"All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust."
"I'll think of a mermaid lagoon, underneath a magic moon."
"Fairies don't live long, but they are so little that a short time seems a good while to them."
"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."
“Stars are beautiful, but they may not take part in anything, they must just look on forever.”
"Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough."
The best quotes from Peter Pan on adventure
"Would you like an adventure now, or shall we have our tea first?"
"Wendy, Wendy, when you are sleeping in your silly bed you might be flying about with me saying funny things to the stars."
"Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning."
"I'll teach you how to jump on the wind's back, and then away we go."
“Of all the delectable islands the Neverland is the snuggest and the most compact.”
"There are many different kinds of bravery. There's the bravery of thinking of others before one's self.”
"All are keeping a sharp look-out in front, but none suspects that the danger may be creeping up from behind."
"Children have the strangest adventures without being troubled by them. For instance, they may remember to mention, a week after the event happened, that when they were in the wood they had met their dead father and had a game with him."
"It is not in doing what you like, but in liking what you do that is the secret of happiness."
"To die will be an awfully big adventure."
The best quotes from Peter Pan on love
"Absence makes the heart grow fonder…or forgetful."
"Just always be waiting for me."
"It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for the next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day."
"She also said she would give him a kiss if he liked, but Peter did not know what she meant, and he held out his hand expectantly."
“Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys.”
The best quotes from Peter Pan on growing up
"All children, except one, grow up."
“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.”
“Little boys should never be sent to bed. They always wake up a day older.”
"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."
"When they met again Wendy was a married woman, and Peter was no more to her than a little dust in the box in which she had kept her toys."
“When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter, who is to be Peter's mother in turn; and so it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless."
"In time they could not even fly after their hats. Want of practice, they called it; but what it really meant was that they no longer believed."
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.”
"Never is an awfully long time."
"I suppose it's like the ticking crocodile, isn't it? Time is chasing after all of us."
