Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Book ·17 of 348
"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."
They never said that.
What people say
"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."
What was actually said
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." The Seven Commandments (revised) — Animal Farm (1945)
Why it stuck
Orwell repeats "animals" in the second clause — the symmetry is the joke. Dropping the second "animals" collapses the rewrite into a flatter English gag.
The revised commandment appears on the barn wall at the novel's climax. The grammar is deliberately repetitive.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.