← The hens perched themselves on the window−sills, the pigeons fluttered up to the rafters, the sheep and cows lay down behind the pigs and began to chew the cud. 🔊
← The singing of this song threw the animals into the wildest excitement. Almost before Major had reached the end, they had begun singing it for themselves. 🔊
← The pellets buried themselves in the wall of the barn and the meeting broke up hurriedly. 🔊
← At last they could stand it no longer. One of the cows broke in the door of the store−shed with her horn and all the animals began to help themselves from the bins. 🔊
← Jones and his men suddenly found themselves being butted and kicked from all sides. The situation was quite out of their control. 🔊
← At first they pretended to laugh to scorn the idea of animals managing a farm for themselves. 🔊
← The whole thing would be over in a fortnight, they said. They put it about that the animals on the Manor Farm (they insisted on calling it the Manor Farm; they would not tolerate the name "Animal Farm") were perpetually fighting among themselves and were also rapidly starving to death. 🔊
← The earth was like iron, and nothing could be done in the fields. Many meetings were held in the big barn, and the pigs occupied themselves with planning out the work of the coming season. 🔊
← The animals formed themselves into two factions under the slogan, "Vote for Snowball and the three−day week" and "Vote for Napoleon and the full manger." 🔊
← As usual, Snowball and Napoleon were in disagreement. According to Napoleon, what the animals must do was to procure firearms and train themselves in the use of them. 🔊
← The one argued that if they could not defend themselves they were bound to be conquered, the other argued that if rebellions happened everywhere they would have no need to defend themselves. 🔊
← The animals listened first to Napoleon, then to Snowball, and could not make up their minds which was right; indeed, they always found themselves in agreement with the one who was speaking at the moment. 🔊
← ALL that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything that they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings. 🔊
← The advantage of only having to feed themselves, and not having to support five extravagant human beings as well, was so great that it would have taken a lot of failures to outweigh it. 🔊
← Once again it was being put about that all the animals were dying of famine and disease, and that they were continually fighting among themselves and had resorted to cannibalism and infanticide. 🔊
← They were shaken and miserable. They did not know which was more shocking−the treachery of the animals who had leagued themselves with Snowball, or the cruel retribution they had just witnessed. 🔊
← In the old days there had often been scenes of bloodshed equally terrible, but it seemed to all of them that it was far worse now that it was happening among themselves. 🔊
← As Clover looked down the hillside her eyes filled with tears. If she could have spoken her thoughts, it would have been to say that this was not what they had aimed at when they had set themselves years ago to work for the overthrow of the human race. 🔊
← Somehow or other, the last two words had slipped out of the animals' memory. But they saw now that the Commandment had not been violated; for clearly there was good reason for killing the traitors who had leagued themselves with Snowball. 🔊
← Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer−except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs. 🔊