Get the best The Velveteen Rabbit quotes about love, bunnies, being real, and more — guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye and teach you a life lesson or two.
The Velveteen Rabbit is also known as “How Toys Become Real,” and it is a beloved British children’s book by Margery Williams, first published over one hundred years ago in 1922.
Though it starts at Christmastime, the rabbit makes it a good book for spring too.
The Velveteen Rabbit Summary
The Velveteen Rabbit is about a plush Rabbit toy a young boy receives on Christmas, then forgets about when he receives more fancy gifts.
In the boy’s nursery, the oldest and wisest toy, the Skin Horse, which belonged to the boy’s uncle, tells the Rabbit that boys can become real when they are loved by children, and this fascinates the Rabbit.
When the boy’s nanny gives him the Rabbit one night, it becomes his favorite toy. The boy and the Rabbit have many joyful shared experiences with each other and, as time passes, the Rabbit becomes more shabby looking, but happier.
Then, the Rabbit toy meets real rabbits, and they mock him for not being real, which is difficult for the Rabbit to endure.
When the boy becomes sick with Scarlet Fever, the Rabbit accompanies him throughout the illness, but the boy’s doctor says that all of his toys should be discarded and burned.
The Rabbit cries, and from his tears springs a flower holding the Nursery Magic Fairy. She tells the Rabbit that because he became real to the boy, she will make him real to everyone.
She says that, because the Rabbit has become real to the boy who loves him, she will make the Rabbit to everyone.
After the toy Rabbit becomes a real Rabbit, he visits the boy, and the boy notices a resemblance to his toy Rabbit.
While The Velveteen Rabbit is a story about toys and magic for children, it imparts so many life lessons to be learned and shared by adults alike:
- the power and worth of love
- the value of growing old and authenticity
- the insignificance of appearances
- coping with the hardships of life
- the value of remembering your roots
You can even watch (and listen) to it read aloud by award-winning actress Meryl Streep on YouTube below:
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Best Velveteen Rabbit Quotes
Below and all the best quotes from The Velveteen Rabbit:
- Frequently asked question
- quotes about love
- quotes about bunnies
- quotes about being real
- and more!
Frequently Asked Question
“‘Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. 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 Quotes About Love
“Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him just as much. He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears turned grey, and his brown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit any more, except to the Boy. To him he was always beautiful, and that was all that the little Rabbit cared about.”
“Near the house where they lived there was a wood, and in the long June evenings the Boy liked to go there after tea to play. 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 cosy, for He was a kind-hearted little boy and He liked Bunny to be comfortable.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Over time the Rabbit grew older and despite how worn he became the Boy loved him even more.”
“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.”
“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.”
“One day the little Rabbit heard the Boy tell his Nanny that he was real. He was overcome by love in his heart.”
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The Velveteen Rabbit Quotes About Bunnies
“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.”
“‘Why don’t you get up and play with us?’ one of them asked. ‘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. ‘I can!’ said the little Rabbit. ‘I can jump higher than anything!’ He meant when the Boy threw him, but of course he didn’t want to say so.”
“‘He hasn’t got any hind legs,’ he called out. ‘Fancy a rabbit without any hind legs!’ And he began to laugh.”
“And while He was playing, two rabbits crept out from the bracken and peeped at him. One of them was brown all over, But the other had strange markings under his fur, as though long ago He had been spotted, and the spots still showed through. 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 Bunny, come back to look at the child who had first helped him to be Real.”
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The Velveteen Rabbit Quotes About Being Real
“‘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?'”
“‘Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you.'”
“When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
“He was naturally shy, and being only made of velveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite snubbed him. The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon every one else; they were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real.”
“‘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 Boy’s Uncle made me Real,’ He said. ‘That was a great many years ago[.]'”
“When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Once you are real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.”
“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.”
“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.”
“He doesn’t smell right! He isn’t a rabbit at all! He isn’t real!”
“‘How about his old Bunny?’ she asked. ‘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 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!'”
“‘I am Real!’ said the little Rabbit. ‘I am Real! The Boy said so!’ And He nearly began to cry.”
“‘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 any more, then I come and take them away with me and turn them into Real.'”
“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.”
“‘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 every one.'”
“Once you are real, you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
“One day the little Rabbit heard the Boy tell his Nanny that he was real. He was overcome by love in his heart.”
“Now you shall be real to everyone.'”
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More Velveteen Rabbit Quotes
“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.”
Read More: Most Famous Opening Lines of Books
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Life won’t be perfect, but you have good things coming.”
“For where the tear had fallen a flower grew out of the ground, a mysterious flower, not at all like any that grew in the garden.”
“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.”
“‘You must have your old Bunny!’ she said. ‘Fancy all that fuss for a toy!'”
“And then a strange thing happened. For where the tear had fallen a flower grew out of the ground, a mysterious flower, not at all like any that grew in the garden. It had slender green leaves the colour of emeralds, and in the centre of the leaves a blossom like a golden cup. It was so beautiful that the little Rabbit forgot to cry, and just lay there watching it. And presently the blossom opened, and out of it there stepped a fairy.”
“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.”
“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.”
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Those things you thought you remembered that is my name I am the rabbit……. Is this a quote from this book?