Here are the 51 best handpicked quotes from “The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Bianco:
From “When you are real you don’t mind being hurt.” to “Now you shall be real to everyone.”
So if you want the best quotes from “The Velveteen Rabbit,” then you’re in the right place.
Let’s jump right in!
My Favorite “The Velveteen Rabbit” Quote
#1
“When you are real you don’t mind being hurt.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
While The Velveteen Rabbit is a children’s book, I appreciate how it teaches even young minds about authenticity through the transformation experienced by its main character.
Despite being a short quote, it presents us with a tasteful thought that being true to oneself and to everyone around us means embracing the fact that we will indeed get hurt along the process.
However, the pain we feel also signifies a deep self-awareness that goes beyond the fear of being hurt, which results in a better, more meaningful life experience.
Best Handpicked Quotes From “The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Williams Bianco
#2
“‘Wasn’t I Real before?’ asked the little Rabbit. ‘You were Real to the Boy,’ the Fairy said, ‘because he loved you.’”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#3
“The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon every one else; they were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#4
“He was naturally shy, and being only made of velveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite snubbed him.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#5
“The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#6
“‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ He asked, ‘or bit by bit?’”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#7
“Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#8
“‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit. ‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for He was always truthful.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#9
“The Boy’s Uncle made me Real,” He said. ‘That was a great many years ago; But once you are real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.’”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#10
“He was wise, for He had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and He knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#11
“Between them all the poor little Rabbit was made to feel himself very insignificant and commonplace, and the only person who was kind to him at all was the Skin Horse.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#12
“The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#13
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#14
“To him he was always beautiful, and that was all that the little Rabbit cared about.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#15
“For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#16
“Of what use was it to be loved and lose one’s beauty and become Real if it all ended like this?”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#17
“‘I am Real!’ said the little Rabbit. “I am Real! The Boy said so!” And He nearly began to cry.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#18
“And he found that he actually had hind legs! Instead of dingy velveteen he had brown fur, soft and shiny, his ears twitched by themselves, and his whiskers were so long that they brushed the grass. He gave one leap and the joy of using those hind legs was so great that he went springing about the turf on them, jumping sideways and whirling round as the others did.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#19
“He didn’t mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him Real, and when you are Real shabbiness doesn’t matter.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#20
“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#21
“That was a great many years ago; But once you are real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#22
“When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, But REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#23
“That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#24
“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#25
“He thought of the Skin Horse, so wise and gentle, and all that He had told him. Of what use was it to be loved and lose one’s beauty and become real if it all ended like this? And a tear, a real tear, trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to the ground.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#26
“It was a long weary time, for the Boy was too ill to play, and the little Rabbit found it rather dull with nothing to do all day long. But He snuggled down patiently and looked forward to the time when the Boy should be well again, and they would go out in the garden amongst the flowers and the butterflies and play splendid games in the raspberry thicket like they used to. All sorts of delightful things He planned, and while the Boy lay half asleep He crept up close to the pillow and whispered them in his ear.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#27
″‘I am the nursery magic Fairy,’ she said. ‘I take care of all the playthings that the children have loved. When they are old and worn out and the children don’t need them anymore, then I come and take them away with me and turn them into Real.’”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#28
“‘I don’t feel like it,’ said the Rabbit, for he didn’t want to explain that he had no clockwork. ‘Ho!’ said the furry rabbit. ‘It’s as easy as anything,’ And he gave a big hop sideways and stood on his hind legs. ‘I don’t believe you can!’ he said.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#29
“For at least two hours the Boy loved him, and then Aunts and Uncles came to dinner, and there was a great rustling of tissue paper and unwrapping of parcels, and in the excitement of looking at all the new presents the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#30
“‘He doesn’t smell right!’ he exclaimed. ‘He isn’t a rabbit at all! He isn’t real!’”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#31
“And about his little soft nose and his round black eyes there was something familiar so that the Boy thought to himself: ‘Why, he looks just like my old Bunny that was lost when I had scarlet fever!’ But he never knew that it really was his own.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#32
“He gave one leap and the joy of using those hind legs was so great that he went springing about the turf on them, jumping sideways and whirling round as the others did, and he grew so excited that when at last he did stop to look for the Fairy she had gone.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#33
“And so the little Rabbit was put into a sack with the old picture-books and a lot of rubbish, and carried out to the end of the garden behind the fowl-house.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#34
“That?’ said the doctor. ‘Why, it’s a mass of scarlet fever germs!—Burn it at once. What? Nonsense! Get him a new one. He mustn’t have that any more!‘”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#35
“Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him just as much.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#36
“He took the Velveteen Rabbit with him, and before he wandered off to pick flowers, or play at brigands among the trees, he always made the Rabbit a little nest somewhere among the bracken, where he would be quite cozy, for he was a kind-hearted little boy and he liked Bunny to be comfortable.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#37
“Wasn’t I Real before?” asked the little Rabbit. “You were Real to the Boy,” the Fairy said, “because he loved you. Now you shall be Real to everyone.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#38
“A mysterious flower began to grow where the Rabbit’s tear had fallen. It formed into a beautiful flower and blossomed and then opened. A fairy stepped out of it, came up to the Rabbit, and kissed him on his nose.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#39
“The boy loved him so much that his whiskers fell off and the pink lining to his ears turned grey.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#40
“Over time the Rabbit grew older and despite how worn he became the Boy loved him even more.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#41
“One day the little Rabbit heard the Boy tell his Nanny that he was REAL. He was overcome by love in his heart.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#42
“One night, and for many nights after, the Rabbit was chosen to sleep with the Boy. The Rabbit was so happy that he never noticed his beautiful velveteen fur was getting shabbier, and his tail coming unsewn, and all the pink rubbed off his nose where the Boy had kissed him.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#43
“Does being real hurt?” the Rabbit asked. “Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#44
“Little Rabbit,” she said, “I take care of all the playthings that the children have loved.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#45
“There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning He was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a Rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, He had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen. On Christmas morning, when He sat wedged in the top of the Boy’s stocking, with a sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#46
“Even began to lose his shape, and He scarcely looked like a Rabbit any more, except to the Boy.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#47
“You must have your old Bunny!” she said. “Fancy all that fuss for a toy!” The Boy sat up in bed and stretched out his hands. “Give me my Bunny!” He said. “You mustn’t say that. He isn’t a toy. He’s REAL!”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#48
“And when the Boy dropped off to sleep, the Rabbit would snuggle down close under his little warm chin and dream, with the Boy’s hands clasped close round him all night long.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#49
“He longed to become Real, to know what it felt like; and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad. He wished that He could become it without these.”
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#50
“I suppose you are real?” said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.
― The Velveteen Rabbit
#51
“Now you shall be real to everyone.’”
― The Velveteen Rabbit