50 Velveteen Rabbit Quotes on Being Real

We’ve gathered these Velveteen Rabbit quotes for you to know the importance of finding the realness within you.

Velveteen Rabbit is a story of a stuffed rabbit who wanted to be real for the sake of the love of his owner.

The book has been read many times since its first publication in 1992. It is also well known as one of the best children’s books because of its success.

If you want to know more about Velveteen Rabbit quotes, then read this whole collection for you to take some valuable life lessons.

We’re sure you’ll love this as much as we do.

Read the full list here.

Best Velveteen Rabbit Quotes 

1. “It doesn’t happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time.” – Skin Horse

2. “What is real? Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?” – Velveteen Rabbit

3. “Sometimes, when you are real, you don’t mind being hurt.” – Skin Horse

4. “When you are real, shabbiness doesn’t matter.” – Narrator

5. “Does it happen all at once, like being wound up, or bit by bit?” – Velveteen Rabbit

6. “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.” – Skin Horse

7. “Once you are real, you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.” – Velveteen Rabbit

8. “Of what use was it to be loved and lose one’s beauty and become real if it all ended like this?” – Narrator

9. “‘Real’ isn’t how you are made, it’s a thing that happens to you.” – Skin Horse

10. “You were real to the boy because he loved you. Now you shall be real to everyone.” – Fairy

11. “That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.” – Skin Horse

12. “When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become real.’” – Skin Horse

13. “Life won’t be perfect, but you have good things coming.” – Skin Horse

14. “Does it hurt?” – Velveteen Rabbit

Velveteen Rabbit Quotes You’ll Never Forget

15. Nana: “How about his old bunny?”

Doctor: “That? 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!”

16. “He doesn’t smell right! He isn’t a rabbit at all! He isn’t real!” – Furry Rabbit

17. “But the thing that—that I touched—it was furry!” – The Boy

18. “You must have your old bunny! Fancy all that fuss for a toy!” – Nana

19. “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.” – Narrator

20. ″Wasn’t I real before?” – Velveteen Rabbit

21. “I am real! I am real! The boy said so.” – Velveteen Rabbit

22. “Give me my Bunny! You mustn’t say that. He isn’t a toy. He’s real!” –The Boy

23. “I am the nursery magic fairy. I take care of all the playthings that the children have loved. When they are old and out and the children don’t need them any more, then I come and take them away with me and turn them into real.” – Fairy

24. “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.” – Narrator 

Velveteen Rabbit Quotes About Love and Realness

25. “Once you are real, you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” – Fairy 

26. “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.” – Narrator

27. “One day the little Rabbit heard the Boy tell his Nanny that he was real. He was overcome by love in his heart.” – Narrator

28. “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.” – Narrator

29. “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.” – Narrator

30. “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.” – Narrator

31. “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.” – Narrator

32. “Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him just as much.” – Narrator

33. “The boy loved him so much that his whiskers fell off and the pink lining to his ears turned grey.” – Narrator

34. “Over time the Rabbit grew older and despite how worn he became the Boy loved him even more.” – Narrator

Velveteen Rabbit Quotes That Will Inspire You to Be Real

35. “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.” – Narrator

36. “He was naturally shy, and being only made of velveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite snubbed him.” – Narrator

37. “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.”– Narrator

38. “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.” – Narrator

39. “The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon everyone else, they were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real.” – Narrator

40. “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.” – Narrator 

41. “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.” – Narrator

42. “Even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a Rabbit any more, except to the Boy.” – Narrator

43. “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.” – Narrator

44. “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.” – Narrator

45. “To him, he was always beautiful, and that was all that the little Rabbit cared about. He didn’t mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him real.” – Narrator

46. “But very soon he grew to like it, for the Boy used to talk to him, and made nice tunnels for him under the bedclothes that he said were like the burrows the real rabbits lived in.” – Narrator

47. “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.” – Narrator

48. “‘He hasn’t got any hind legs,’ he called out. ‘Fancy a rabbit without any hind legs!’ And he began to laugh.” – Furry Rabbit

49. “It was light now, for the moon had risen. All the forest was beautiful, and the fronds of the bracken shone like frosted silver. In the open glade between the tree-trunks the wild rabbits danced with their shadows on the velvet grass, but when they saw the Fairy they all stopped dancing and stood round in a ring to stare at her.” – Narrator

50. “I’ve brought you a new playfellow, you must be very kind to him and teach him all he needs to know in Rabbit-land, for he is going to live with you forever and ever!” – Fairy

Do These Velveteen Rabbit Quotes Inspire You to Be Real?

The Velveteen Rabbit is an amazing story about a stuffed rabbit who became a real one through the love of his owner. The story is full of moral lessons that both children and adults can surely get.

Sometimes, reading books will help us get through our boring day. It helps us gain more knowledge about the specific topic that we are into. Reading also teaches us valuable lessons about love and life.

Velveteen Rabbit will teach us many things including accepting who and what you really are. In today’s society, everybody thinks they have all the right to judge you. But who cares, it’s your life—don’t let anyone judge you for living it the way you wanted.

You don’t need someone to validate you nor someone to dictate you. Enjoy life and ignore those people who bring you bad vibes. Let them go and set yourself free!

Have you read the Velveteen Rabbit? Which of these quotes are your favorites? Don’t forget to leave them in the comment section below!

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Karen Danao

Hi, I’m Karen, a content curator and writer for Quote Ambition; I’m also a marketing and advertising professional. Beyond the keyboard and the screen, I’m someone who’s out to enjoy every bit that life has to offer!

Poetry, philosophy, history, and movies are all topics I love writing about! However, my true passion is in traveling, photography, and finding common ground to which everyone from different cultures can relate.

With the many places I’ve been to, I found that love, inspiration, and happiness are some things that bring people together. No matter how different we are on the outside, I’m a true believer that our emotions don’t lie; if you dig deep into our psyche, we’re all the same inside.

This belief was further amplified when I joined Quote Ambition. Through the quotes I’ve read, collected, organized, and written about, I found that humans are resilient, creative, and compassionate.

We take from each others’ hearts and courage, and it’s through our individual experiences that we learn how to rise above our challenges and pain. In so many ways, Quote Ambition is a platform that allows people from all over the world to gain the inspiration they need anytime, anywhere!

You can find me on MuckRack and LinkedIn.