George Orwell Quotes

Thereupon the people picked a leader nearer to their mood, Churchill, who was at any rate able to grasp that wars are not won without fighting. Later, perhaps, they will pick another leader who can grasp that only Socialist nations can fight effectively.

Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as the heroes of imaginary victories; and I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that had never happened. I saw, in fact, history being written not in terms of what happened but of what ought to have happened according to various ‘party lines’.

If I had to make a list of six books which were to be preserved when all others were destroyed, I would certainly put Gulliver's Travels among them.

After knowing him I saw the force of the proverb ‘Trust a snake before a Jew and a Jew before a Greek, but don’t trust an Armenian.

Apparently nothing will ever teach these people that the other 99 percent of the population exist.

There is no crime, absolutely none, that cannot be condoned when 'our' side commits it.

The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.

Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.

إن المساواة بين البشر لم تعد غاية سامية تستحق النضال من أجلها, وإنما خطرا يجب تفاديه.

إن جوهر حكم القلة ليس وراثة الابن لأبيه , وإنما هو استمرارية رؤية للعالم وأسلوب حياة يفرضهما الموتى على الأحياء

ويتفق المجتمع في نهاية الأمر على الإيمان بأن الأخ القائد قادر على كل شيء وأن الحزب معصوم عن الخطأ, ولكن لمّا كان واقع الأمر يقول إن الأخ القائد ليس قادرا على كل شيء وأن الحزب ليس معصوما عن الخطأ , فإن ثمة حاجة إلى مرونة دائمة في معالجة الحقائق.

A phrase much used in political circles in this country is "playing into the hands of". It is a sort of charm or incantation to silence uncomfortable truths. When you are told that by saying this, that or the other you are "playing into the hands of" some sinister enemy, you know that it is your duty to shut up immediately.

They fear love because it creates a world they can't control.

الولاء يعني انعدام التفكير، بل انعدام الحاجة للتفكير، الولاء هو عدم الوعي.

This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.

The British ruling class were not altogether wrong in thinking that Fascism was on their side. It is a fact that any rich man, unless he is a Jew, has less to fear from Fascism than from either Communism or democratic Socialism. One ought never to forget this, for nearly the whole of German and Italian propaganda is designed to cover it up.

وهنا عاد إلى مذكراته ومضى يكتب: لن يثوروا حتى يعوا، ولن يعوا إلا بعد أن يثوروا.