“the moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.”
- Date
- 1906
- Attribution
- Source identified
- Voice / speaker
- Fictional narrator · Narrator
What does this quote mean?
Inside Barrie's fantasy narration, Peter's ability to fly is tied to undivided belief in that ability; as a quotation, the line works as a literary image of doubt interrupting action rather than as a literal psychological law.
Where does it come from?
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Project Gutenberg #26998. The narrator comments on Peter after he feels shunned by the birds, explaining that losing faith in his power to fly would itself end that power within the story's fantasy logic. The line is narrator voice, not an autobiographical claim by Barrie.
Who voices the line?
Fictional narrator · Narrator. The narrator generalizes from Peter’s loss of faith in his ability to fly in Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens; the sentence belongs to the fantasy’s narrator voice.
The source author and the local speaker can be different, especially in fiction, drama, dialogue and poetry.
How should this attribution be read?
This wording is connected with the named source shown above. Translations and editions can vary, so consult the source note when exact wording matters.