Watership Down (1978) - Quotes

Dandelion: [looking at the countryside from Watership Down] Come and look! You can see the whole world!

Blackberry: I found a burrow, Hazel. Under that beech hanger; with a great hall and no smell of death or disease.

Dandelion: O Frith on the hills! He made it all for us!

Hazel: Frith may have made it, but Fiver found it.

General Woundwort: Your name?

General Woundwort: Don't be frightened. You're safe here. Well, get on with it!

Hyzenthlay: Sir, several of us propose an expedition for...a new warren. Somewhere else.

General Woundwort: A new warren?! Out of the question!

Hyzenthlay: Oh, but you don't understand. The system is breaking down.

General Woundwort: Explain that.

Hyzenthlay: Some of us cannot produce litters; we're overcrowded.

General Woundwort: I want no further discussion about it!

General Woundwort: Here or anywhere else!

Hyzenthlay: [she is approached threateningly by Captain Campion; leaves] I... Thank you, sir.

General Woundwort: Campion, have her watched.

Holly: [to Fiver] I remember you. You're the one that saw it coming.

Pipkin: But what happened?

Holly: Our warren, destroyed!

Silver: Destroyed? How?

Holly: [flashback plays; [sound] Men came. Filled in the burrows. Couldn't get out. There was a strange ]. Hissing. The air turned bad. Runs blocked with dead bodies. I couldn't get out. Everything turned mad. Warren, herbs, roots, grass, all pushed into the ground!

Blackberry: Men have always hated us.

Holly: No. They just destroyed the warren because we were in their way.

Fiver: [[Earth] They'll never rest until they've spoiled the ].

Bigwig: They need to rest, Hazel.

Hazel: [sniffs and sees a bean field nearby] Something up ahead.

Dandelion: A warm, friendly burrow, perhaps?

Hazel: No, no, no, not a burrow. A field. A great field of scented plants that will cover us sight and sound until we're rested.

Blackberry: You're beginning to sound like a chief, Hazel. Hazel-rah!

Bigwig: Hazel-rah? That'll be the day I call him chief, that will.

Bigwig: There's a dog loose in the wood!

Silver: Well, that does it!

Pipkin: A dog?

Bigwig: Come on. What do you think will happen when he picks up our scent? Those that can swim, swim. The others will have to make out the best they can.

Hazel: That's not good enough. We all got into this together, we'll all get out of it together.

Violet: [running from a badger] It had just killed. I saw blood on its lips.

Dandelion: Lucky for us it had! otherwise it might have been quicker!

Hazel: Who's that?

Blackberry: It's me.

Hazel: Dandelion?

Blackberry: [several other rabbits join them] No. Blackberry. Dandelion told me you were leaving the warren tonight. If it's true, I'd like to come along.

Violet: We'd like to come along too.

Dandelion: I don't much like the look of things.

Fiver: We must get everyone.

Silver: That Toadflax fellow followed me down the run. It could mean the Owsla has been turned out tonight.

Hazel: Then the sooner we're off, the better.

Chief Rabbit: Now, Walnut. It is Walnut, isn't it?

Hazel: No, sir. Hazel.

Chief Rabbit: Hazel. I knew your mother well. And your friend?

Hazel: My brother, sir. Fiver.

Chief Rabbit: Your brother. Now, do tell me how I can help you.

Hazel: Well, he says there's a bad danger coming to our warren.

Chief Rabbit: A bad danger? How very upsetting. Now, what sort of danger, I wonder?

Fiver: I don't know, but it's bad! It's so bad!

Chief Rabbit: Well, now. What ought we to do?

Fiver: Go away! All of us! Now!

Chief Rabbit: [flabbergasted] Now? In May? The mating season? And where would we go to?

Hazel: He's had these feelings before, and he's been right again and again.

Chief Rabbit: I shall have to consider this very carefully. Perhaps we'll discuss it later, in the summer.

Fiver: [rushes out in a panic] WE CAN'T WAIT, WE CAN'T WAIT!

Chief Rabbit: It's been good of you to come, Walnut.

Chief Rabbit: [Bigwig doesn't respond and tries to ignore the Chief Rabbit.] Bigwig! Bigwig!

Bigwig: Sir?

Chief Rabbit: What was that all about?

Bigwig: Well, sir--

Chief Rabbit: Your duty as an officer is to protect this burrow.

Bigwig: Yes, sir.

Chief Rabbit: Those two lunatics have better be watched.

Bigwig: Yes, sir.

Bigwig: Hazel? It is Hazel, isn't it?

Hazel: It is.

Bigwig: What are you doing here?

Hazel: [motioning to Fiver] We want to see the chief rabbit, Bigwig.

Bigwig: We? You mean he wants to see him, too?

Hazel: Yes.

Fiver: I must.

Bigwig: What's it all about?

Hazel: Well--

Holly: [interrupts] Bigwig, what do they want?

Bigwig: They want to see the Chief Rabbit.

Holly: What for?

Fiver: Well, I have to--

Holly: [interrupts] Send them away.

Bigwig: I'll take care of it, Holly.

Hazel: Look, Bigwig, when have I ever asked to see the chief rabbit before?

Bigwig: [grumbles] Alright, alright. Wait here.

Bigwig: Come on, then. Though I'll probably get my ears chewed off for this...

Hazel: Alright, alright, Fiver. It's getting dark. I think we should get back to the burrow.

Fiver: Back to the burrow?! It'll come there! Don't think it won't! It's all around us!

Hazel: Now, stop it, Fiver.

Fiver: We've got to go away from here! All of us!

Hazel: Go away? The whole warren?

Fiver: Yes, before it's too late!

Hazel: Don't be silly. They won’t come, they'll think you're out of your mind.

Fiver: You must listen to me, Hazel! Something very bad is going to happen!

Hazel: Well, I suppose we'd better try and see the Chief Rabbit. You can tell him about it. But I don't expect he'll like the idea at all.

Hazel: I think it's safe now, Fiver.

Fiver: There's something strange about the warren this evening.

Hazel: Is it dangerous?

Fiver: [[danger] It's not exactly ], it's... oh, I don't know. Something oppressive, like thunder. It seems safe enough now though.

Bigwig: [Mocking Fiver's prophecies] But I'm in a mist! Everything's bad! Oh, I have got a funny feeling in my toe!

Blackavar: It nearly came off. We'll take one or two of them with us before it's finished.

The Cat: [catching Hazel] Can you run? I think not... I think not...

Kehaar: [about Bigwig] He tell me the plan?! I KNOW the plan!

Kehaar: You got no brains! You no plan! You need mates for plan! Listen - I got plan for you. Wing better. I go fly; fly for you. I find mates.

Kehaar: YOU STUPID BUNNIES! You got no mates! Where are mates?! WHERE ARE CHICKS?! Plenty trouble for you! You need MATES!

Kehaar: [Bigwig asks where he comes from] From Beeg, BEEG VAWTER! ("Big Water") My home by Beeg Vawter...Beeg Vawter...We go "Kehaaaaar"... "Kehaaaaaaaar"... "Kehaaaaar"...

Kehaar: [collapses] Go away. Wing no good, but I walk...plenty good... Is long way?

Kehaar: [about his injured wing] Damn cat jump me, farm cat.

Kehaar: [Hazel offers to help him] PISS OFF!!! What for help me?

Hazel: [to Bigwig; about Holly] Let him be. He's had a bad time. He can tell us about it when he's rested.

Hazel: [to the cat] You look hungry. Rats getting too clever, I suppose? I bet you can't run at all. You pie-eyed, saucer-licking scrap-scraper. Can you run?

Hazel: My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today.

Hazel: Look, once we're beyond the woods, we'll really be clear of the Owsla. And we can rest then.

Hazel: [to the Chief Rabbit; about Fiver] He's had these feelings before, and he's been right again and again.

Hazel: Tell you the truth, I'm getting sick and tired of it. Sometimes I feel like clearing out of the warren altogether. Never mind. Let's forget it, and try to enjoy the evening.

Fiver: Look. Look. That's the place for us. High, lonely hills, where the wind and the sound carry, and the ground's as dry as straw in a barn. That's where we ought to be. That's where we have to get to.

Fiver: There's something unnatural and evil and twisted about this place. It feels... it feels like... mist. Like being deceived, and losing our way.

Fiver: They think I'm mad, but you know I'm not, and you still won't listen!

Fiver: Hazel, look... the field... the field... it's covered with blood!

Narrator/Frith: General Woundwort's body was never found. It could be that he still lives his fierce life somewhere else; but from that day on, mother rabbits would tell their kittens, that if they did not do as they were told, the General would get them. Such was Woundwort's monument, and perhaps it would not have displeased him.

Narrator/Frith: [first lines; [star; [animals; [birds; [w:El-ahrairah|El-ahrairah; [Rabbit; [control; [anger; [desire; [Death] Long ago, the great Frith made the world. He made all the ]s, and the world lived among the stars. Frith made all the ] and ], and at first, made them all the same. Now, among the animals was ], the Prince of ]s. He had many friends, and they all ate grass together. But after a time, the rabbits wandered everywhere, multiplying and eating as they went. Then Frith said to El-ahrairah, "Prince Rabbit, if you cannot ] your people, I shall find ways to control them." But El-ahrairah would not listen and said to Frith, "My people are the strongest in the world." This ]ed Frith, so he determined to get the better of El-ahrairah. He gave a present to every animal and bird, making each one different from the rest. When the fox came, and others like the dog and cat, the hawk, and weasel, to each of them, Frith gave a fierce ] to hunt and slay the children of El-ahrairah. Then El-ahrairah knew that Frith was too clever for him, and he was frightened. He had never before seen the Black Rabbit of ]. "My friend," said Frith, "have you seen El-ahrairah? For I wish to give him a gift." "Er, no...I have not seen him." So Frith said, "Come out, and I will bless you instead." "No, I cannot, I am busy. The fox and weasel are coming. If you want to bless me, you'll have to bless my...bottom!" "Very well, be it so." And El-ahrairah's tail grew shining white and flashed like a star. And his back legs grew long and powerful. And he tore across the hill, faster than any creature in the world. "All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies. And whenever 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.