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George Orwell

imaginative British writer concerned with social justice (1903-1950)

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It is a commonplace that the history of civilisation is largely the history of weapons. In particular, the connection between the discovery of gunpowder and the overthrow of feudalism by the bourgeoisie has been pointed out over and over again. And though I have no doubt exceptions can be brought forward, I think the following rule would be found to be generally true that ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example, tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon --so long as there is no answer to it-- gives claws to the weak.
The aim of a joke is not to degrade the human being but to remind him that he is already degraded.
The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact.
To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle.
People sleep peacably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
...Two and two are four. Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.
Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.
Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing.
At age 50, every man has the face he deserves.
Big Brother is watching you.
Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.
Enlightened people seldom or never possess a sense of responsibility.
Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.
For the ordinary man is passive. Within a narrow circle (home life, and perhaps the trade unions or local politics) he feels himself master of his fate, but against major events he is as helpless as against the elements. So far from endeavouring to influence the future, he simply lies down and lets things happen to him.
Freedom is the right to say two plus two make four. If granted, all else follows.
He who controls the past commands the future. He who commands the future conquers the past.
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.
In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
Liberal: a power worshipper without power.
No doubt alcohol, tobacco, and so forth, are things that a saint must avoid, but sainthood is a thing that human beings must avoid.
On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good and not quite all the time.
On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.
Orthodoxy is Unconsciousness.
Part of the reason for the ugliness of adults, in a child's eyes, is that the child is usually looking upwards, and few faces are at their best when seen from below.
Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent.
Society has always seemed to demand a little more from human beings than it will get in practice.
The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals.
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.
The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
you can't live life without consequences. They occur regardless of the decision. A consequence is an outcome, good or bad. You can live life without regrets and thats what makes it worth it. Or you could live with regret and end up hanging yourself but thats still good. You paid for the rope so your feeding someones family. Something to be proud of before you kick the bucket

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