"The Velveteen Rabbit" Quotes

Real isn't how you are made, said the Skin Horse. It's a thing that happens to you.

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.

It doesn't happen all at once, said the Skin Horse. You become. It takes a long time.

Once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always.

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.

Real isn't how you are made; it's a thing that happens to you.

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, it's what you become.

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.