Fahrenheit 451 Key Concepts and Quotes

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and significant quotes from 'Fahrenheit 451,' illustrating major themes and ideas.

Mass media

Forms of communication that reach large audiences simultaneously, often influencing public perceptions and attitudes.

Censorship

The suppression or prohibition of speech, public communication, or other information deemed objectionable or harmful.

Distraction vs Happiness

The contrast between temporary diversions of attention and the pursuit of true fulfillment and joy.

Quote by Captain Beatty; “we’re the Happiness Boys…”

"[...] we're the Happiness Boys... you and I and the others. We stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought.[…] Don't let the torrent of melancholy and drear philosophy drown our world."

Quote by Faber; '“It’s not books you need…”

"It's not books you need, it's some of the things that once were books....The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through radios and televisors, but are not."

Quote by Guy Montag; '“We have everything we need to be happy...”

"We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing. I looked around. The only thing I positively knew was gone was the books I'd burned in ten or twelve years. So I thought books might help."

Quote by Captain Beatty; “If you don’t want a house built…”

“If you don’t want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none.”

Quote by Clarisse McClellan"; “I’m antisocial...”

"I'm antisocial, they say. I don't mix. It's so strange. I'm very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn't it? Social to me means talking to you about things like this."

Quote by Clarisse McClellan"; “You’re not like the others...”

"You're not like the others.[...] When I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon, last night. The others would never do that."

Quote by Captain Beatty; “We must all be alike…”

“We must all be alike. Not everyone is born free and equal, [...] everyone is made equal. Each man is the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon."

Quote by Captain Beatty; “Burn all…”

"Burn all, burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean."

Quote by Faber; '“The comfortable people want…”

"The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless. We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam."

Quote by Faber; '“They are so confident that they will…”

"They are so confident that they will run on forever. But they won't run on. They don't know that this is all one huge big blazing meteor that makes a pretty fire in space, but that someday it'll have to hit."

Quote by Captain Beatty; “At least once in his career…”

"At least once in his career, every fireman gets an itch.What do the books say, he wonders. Oh, to scratch that itch, eh?"

Quote by Guy Montag; first phrase of the book

“It was a pleasure to burn.”