The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real… — George Orwell

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.

Politics and the English Language · 1946
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Orwell, George. "Politics and the English Language." The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, vol. 4: In Front of Your Nose 1945-1950, edited by Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus. David R. Godine, 1999, no. 38.
Original citation
Orwell, George. "Politics and the English Language." Horizon, Apr. 1946, vol. 13, issue 76, pp. 252-265.

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