{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct", "heading": "Quotes about instinct", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct.md", "quotes_count": 16, "authors_count": 15, "parent": { "name": "psychology", "slug": "psychology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/psychology", "heading": "Quotes about psychology" }, "children": [], "quotes": [ { "id": "cd159d99-96b1-4abd-909f-d4c00070d6d8", "slug": "in-a-million", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/2001-a-space-odyssey/in-a-million", "text": "In a million years, the human race had lost few of its aggressive instincts; along symbolic lines visible only to politicians, the thirty-eight nuclear powers watched one another with belligerent anxiety.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "2001: A Space Odyssey", "slug": "2001-a-space-odyssey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/2001-a-space-odyssey" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(novel)#II._TMA-1", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:44" }, { "id": "70b36106-b39c-43e2-8c4d-1c6292377fc2", "slug": "judging-from-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/1q84/judging-from-the", "text": "Judging from the spiderwebs clinging to it, the emergency stairway was hardly ever used. To each web clung a small black spider, patiently waiting for its small prey to come along. Not that the spiders had any awareness of being “patient.” A spider had no special skill other than building its web, and no lifestyle choice other than sitting still. It would stay in one place waiting for its prey until, in the natural course of things, it shriveled up and died. This was all genetically predetermined. The spider had no confusion, no despair, no regrets. No metaphysical doubt, no moral complications. Probably. Unlike me.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Haruki Murakami", "slug": "haruki-murakami", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami" }, "book": { "title": "1Q84", "slug": "1q84", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/1q84" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 36, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" }, { "name": "doubt", "slug": "doubt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/1Q84#Book_1_(April-June)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:38" }, { "id": "dcb9c1e0-abc0-47aa-9acc-2184c8692669", "slug": "he-didnt-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly/he-didnt-have", "text": "He didn’t have “instincts”, he had thirty years of experience—which was much more reliable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ben Aaronovitch", "slug": "ben-aaronovitch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch" }, "book": { "title": "Tales From The Folly", "slug": "tales-from-the-folly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 31, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "experience", "slug": "experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/experience" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Aaronovitch#Tales_from_the_Folly_(2020)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:33" }, { "id": "19bba4da-da17-42d1-9c4b-0d371966d7c3", "slug": "its-one-of-those", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/false-value/its-one-of-those", "text": "It’s one of those weird truths you learn early on as police that quite a high percentage of the public have all the survival instinct of a moth in a candle factory. They run the wrong way, they refuse to move, some will run toward the danger, and others will instantly whip out their phones and take footage.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ben Aaronovitch", "slug": "ben-aaronovitch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch" }, "book": { "title": "False Value", "slug": "false-value", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/false-value" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 12, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Aaronovitch#False_Value_(2020)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:32" }, { "id": "d7b5d3e0-0ab3-4647-add1-b2a25515db6d", "slug": "god-had-given", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anna-sewell/black-beauty/god-had-given", "text": "God had given men reason, by which they could find out things for themselves, but He had given animals knowledge which did not depend on reason, and which was much more prompt and perfect in its way, and by which they had often saved the lives of men.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anna Sewell", "slug": "anna-sewell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anna-sewell" }, "book": { "title": "Black Beauty", "slug": "black-beauty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anna-sewell/black-beauty" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 61, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anna_Sewell#Black_Beauty_(1877)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:12" }, { "id": "f5020db1-ea1f-446f-9731-54334d22298d", "slug": "judge-a-chap", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer/the-other-side-of-time/judge-a-chap", "text": "Judge a chap on what he does, and not what he is, eh? None of us can help our natural tendencies—and perhaps overcoming one’s instincts is in the end a nobler achievement than not having the impulse in the first place.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Keith Laumer", "slug": "keith-laumer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer" }, "book": { "title": "The Other Side of Time", "slug": "the-other-side-of-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer/the-other-side-of-time" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 56, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "honour", "slug": "honour", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honour" }, { "name": "judging others", "slug": "judging-others", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/judging-others" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Keith_Laumer#The_Other_Side_of_Time_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:07" }, { "id": "dc19e0cf-7548-40dd-9d65-56059a9b4caa", "slug": "i-often-sit", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/erich-maria-remarque/all-quiet-on-the-western-front/i-often-sit", "text": "I often sit over against myself, as before a stranger, and wonder how the unnameable active principle that calls itself to life has adapted itself even to this form. All other expressions live in a winter sleep, life is simply one continual watch against the menace of death;—it has transformed us into unthinking animals in order to give us the weapon of instinct—it has reinforced us with dullness, so that we do not go to pieces before the horror, which would overwhelm us if we had clear, conscious thought—it has awakened in us the sense of comradeship, so that we escape the abyss of solitude—it has lent us the indifference of wild creatures, so that in spite of all, we perceive the positive in every moment, and store it up as a reserve against the onslaught of nothingness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Erich Maria Remarque", "slug": "erich-maria-remarque", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/erich-maria-remarque" }, "book": { "title": "All Quiet on the Western Front", "slug": "all-quiet-on-the-western-front", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/erich-maria-remarque/all-quiet-on-the-western-front" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 273, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "survival", "slug": "survival", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/survival" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erich_Maria_Remarque#All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_(1929)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:33" }, { "id": "5f65a27a-d13c-4283-a24c-ae15ea47cbdf", "slug": "i-was-sure", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs/the-land-that-time-forgot/i-was-sure", "text": "I was sure that Lys was dead. I wanted myself to die, and yet I clung to life—useless and hopeless and harrowing a thing as it had become. I clung to life because some ancient, reptilian forbear had clung to life and transmitted to me through the ages the most powerful motive that guided his minute brain—the motive of self-preservation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edgar Rice Burroughs", "slug": "edgar-rice-burroughs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs" }, "book": { "title": "The Land That Time Forgot", "slug": "the-land-that-time-forgot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs/the-land-that-time-forgot" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "survival", "slug": "survival", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/survival" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs#The_Land_That_Time_Forgot_(1918)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:42" }, { "id": "4eddf0dd-b942-4913-9816-03e7722eac42", "slug": "females-who-agree", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance/females-who-agree", "text": "“Females who agree to be property are the survivors. Belonging to a mature, powerful male guarantees his protection for her and her children and raises the female’s rank in the primate society. The higher the rank, the less she is harassed and the more she gets to eat. Over millions of years, therefore, it has become instinctive for females to mate with the most dangerous, most dominant male they can attract.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Six Moon Dance", "slug": "six-moon-dance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 100, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Six_Moon_Dance_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:25" }, { "id": "8a106db4-51d4-48c8-bce7-0c9960f66824", "slug": "not-eating-meat", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/denis-leary/no-cure-for-cancer/not-eating-meat", "text": "Not eating meat is a decision, eating meat is an instinct.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Denis Leary", "slug": "denis-leary", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/denis-leary" }, "book": { "title": "No Cure for Cancer", "slug": "no-cure-for-cancer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/denis-leary/no-cure-for-cancer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" }, { "name": "vegetarianism", "slug": "vegetarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/vegetarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Denis_Leary#No_Cure_for_Cancer_(1993)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:24" }, { "id": "35ff563a-e571-46b0-aec6-8d3b6b2fe37d", "slug": "morals-theyre-nothing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon/more-than-human/morals-theyre-nothing", "text": "Morals: They’re nothing but a coded survival instinct!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Theodore Sturgeon", "slug": "theodore-sturgeon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon" }, "book": { "title": "More Than Human", "slug": "more-than-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon/more-than-human" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 175, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon#More_Than_Human_(1953)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:49" }, { "id": "4f7f8707-6a73-413e-a168-dfe1ef53a41d", "slug": "among-the-forces", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-dreiser/sister-carrie/among-the-forces", "text": "Among the forces which sweep and play throughout the universe, untutored man is but a wisp in the wind. Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason. On the tiger no responsibility rests. We see him aligned by nature with the forces of life — he is born into their keeping and without thought he is protected. We see man far removed from the lairs of the jungles, his innate instincts dulled by too near an approach to free-will, his free-will not sufficiently developed to replace his instincts and afford him perfect guidance. He is becoming too wise to hearken always to instincts and desires; he is still too weak to always prevail against them. As a beast, the forces of life aligned him with them; as a man, he has not yet wholly learned to align himself with the forces. In this intermediate stage he wavers — neither drawn in harmony with nature by his instincts nor yet wisely putting himself into harmony by his own free-will. He is even as a wisp in the wind, moved by every breath of passion, acting now by his will and now by his instincts, erring with one, only to retrieve by the other, falling by one, only to rise by the other — a creature of incalculable variability. We have the consolation of knowing that evolution is ever in action, that the ideal is a light that cannot fail. He will not forever balance thus between good and evil. When this jangle of free-will and instinct shall have been adjusted, when perfect understanding has given the former the power to replace the latter entirely, man will no longer vary. The needle of understanding will yet point steadfast and unwavering to the distant pole of truth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Theodore Dreiser", "slug": "theodore-dreiser", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-dreiser" }, "book": { "title": "Sister Carrie", "slug": "sister-carrie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-dreiser/sister-carrie" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "free will", "slug": "free-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/free-will" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Dreiser#Sister_Carrie_(1900)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:21" }, { "id": "e1305fdc-7495-4658-af1d-a585e43b318e", "slug": "you-remind-me-of-another", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world/you-remind-me-of-another", "text": "\"You remind me of another of those old fellows called Bradley. He defined philosophy as the finding of bad reason for what one believes by instinct...\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Brave New World", "slug": "brave-new-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brave_New_World#Chapter_17", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:35" }, { "id": "c646a4ca-13e1-4da1-9171-4c103e0cd5b8", "slug": "men-are-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/men-are-not", "text": "[...] men are not astonish'd at the operations of their own reason, at the same time, that they admire the instinct of animals, and find a difficulty in explaining it, merely because it cannot be reduc'd to the very same principles. [...] reason is nothing but a wonderful and unintelligible instinct in our souls[.]", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_1:_Of_the_understanding", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "8b2f122b-3fdd-47c4-a609-a99caa5c8902", "slug": "i-dont-believe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/christmas-holiday/i-dont-believe", "text": "\"I don't believe in the god of the Christians who gave his son in order to save mankind. That's a myth. But why should it have arisen if it didn't express some deep-seated intuition in men? I don't know what I believe, because it's instinctive, and how can you describe an instinct with words? I have an instinct that the power that rules us, human beings, animals and things, is a dark and cruel power and that everything has to be paid for, a power that demands an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and that though we may writhe and squirm we have to submit, for the power is ourselves.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "Christmas Holiday", "slug": "christmas-holiday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/christmas-holiday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 240, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#Christmas_Holiday_(1939)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:28" }, { "id": "e1159204-72f8-4581-aeee-bcaa0f3d4140", "slug": "by-itself-he-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/by-itself-he-said", "text": "\"By itself,\" he said, \"pain is not always enough. There are occasions when a human being will stand out against pain, even to the point of death. But for everyone there is something unendurable — something that cannot be contemplated. Courage and cowardice are not involved. If you are falling from a height it is not cowardly to clutch at a rope. If you have come up from deep water it is not cowardly to fill your lungs with air. It is merely an instinct which cannot be destroyed. It is the same with the rats. For you, they are unendurable. They are a form of pressure that you cannot withstand, even if you wished to. You will do what is required of you.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" }, { "name": "torture", "slug": "torture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/torture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_5", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" } ] }