George Orwell Quotes

It was possible, no doubt, to imagine a society in which wealth, in the sense of personal possessions and luxuries, should be evenly distributed, while power remained in the hands of a small privileged caste. But in practice such a society could not long remain stable. For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realise that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.

Think of life as it really is, think of the details of life; and then think that there is no meaning in it, no purpose, no goal except the grave. Surely only fools or self-deceivers, or those whose lives are exceptionally fortunate, can face that thought without flinching?

It is curious how people take it for granted that they have a right to preach at you and pray over you as soon as your income falls below a certain level.

Shortly, Professor Hayek's thesis is that Socialism inevitably leads to despotism, and that in Germany the Nazis were able to succeed because the Socialists had already done most of their work for them, especially the intellectual work of weakening the desire for liberty. By bringing the whole of life under the control of the State, Socialism necessarily gives power to an inner ring of bureaucrats, who in almost every case will be men who want power for its own sake and will stick at nothing in order to retain it. Britain, he says, is now going the same road as Germany, with the left-wing intelligentsia in the van and the Tory Party a good second. The only salvation lies in returning to an unplanned economy, free competition, and emphasis on liberty rather than on security. In the negative part of Professor Hayek's thesis there is a great deal of truth. It cannot be said too often — at any rate, it is not being said nearly often enough — that collectivism is not inherently democratic, but, on the contrary, gives to a tyrannical minority such powers as the Spanish Inquisitors never dreamed of.

The only good human being is a dead one.

A human being is primarily a bag for putting food into; the other functions and faculties may be more godlike, but in point of time they come afterwards. A man dies and is buried, and all his words and actions are forgotten, but the food he has eaten lives after him in the sound or rotten bones of his children. I think it could be plausibly argued that changes of diet are more important than changes of dynasty or even of religion....Yet it is curious how seldom the all-importance of food is recognized. You see statues everywhere to politicians, poets, bishops, but none to cooks or bacon-curers or market gardeners.

[Nineteen Eighty-Four] was based chiefly on communism, because that is the dominant form of totalitarianism, but I was trying chiefly to imagine what communism would be like if it were firmly rooted in the English speaking countries, and was no longer a mere extension of the Russian Foreign Office.

It is a feeling of relief, almost of pleasure, at knowing yourself at last genuinely down and out. You have talked so often of going to the dogs — and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them, and you can stand it. It takes off a lot of anxiety.

England is the most class-ridden country under the sun. It is a land of snobbery and privilege, ruled largely by the old and silly.

"أوبراين: "كيف يؤكد إنسان سلطته على إنسان آخر يا وينستون ؟"
قال وينستون بعد تفكير: "يجعله يقاسي الألم"
رد أوبراين: "أصبت فيما تقول. بتعريضه للألم , فالطاعة وحدها ليست كافية , وما لم يعانِ الإنسان الألم كيف يمكنك أن تتحقق من أنه ينصاع لإرادتك لا لإرادته هو ؟
إن السلطة هي إذلاله وإنزال الألم به , وهي أيضا تمزيق العقول البشرية إلى أشلاء ثم جمعها ثانية وصياغتها في قوالب جديدة من اختيارنا.
هل بدأت تفهم أي نوع من العالم نقوم بخلقه الآن ؟ إنه النقيض التام ليوتوبيا المدينة الفاضلة التي تصورها المصلحون الأقدمون, إنه عالم الخوف والغدر والتعذيب, عالم يدوس الناس فيه بعضهم بعضا.
عالم يزداد قسوة كلما ازداد نقاء , إذ التقدم في عالمنا هو التقدم باتجاه المزيد من الألم.
لقد زعمت الحضارات الغابرة أنها قامت على الحب والعدالة أما حضارتنا فهي قائمة على الكراهية, ففي عالمنا لا مكان لعواطف غير الخوف والغضب والانتشاء بالنصر وإذلال الذات, وأي شيء خلاف ذلك سندمره تدميراً.

Every war, when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defence against a homicidal maniac.

Now he had recognized himself as a dead man it became important to stay alive as long as possible.

Money is the one thing you must never mention when you are with people richer than yourself. Or if you do, then it must be money in the abstract, money with a big 'M', not the actual concrete money that's in your pocket and isn't in mine.

War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking into the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comforable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.

We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf.