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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Totalitarianism9 quotes
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever. — George Orwell · 1949The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. — George Orwell · 1945Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. — George Orwell · 1949The two aims of the Party are to conquer the whole surface of the earth and to extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought. — George Orwell · 1949Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. — George Orwell · 1949Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as "the truth" exists.... The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, "It never happened"—well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five—well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs. — George Orwell · 1943All 9 quotes →Politics4 quotes
Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. — George Orwell · 1946In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible. — George Orwell · 1946There are only four ways in which a ruling class can fall from power. Either it is conquered from without, or it governs so inefficiently that the masses are stirred to revolt, or it allows a strong and discontented Middle group to come into being, or it loses its own self-confidence and willingness to govern. These causes do not operate singly, and as a rule all four of them are present in some degree. A ruling class which could guard against all of them would remain in power permanently. Ultimately the determining factor is the mental attitude of the ruling class itself. — George Orwell · 1949Either we all live in a decent world, or nobody does. — George Orwell · 1943Dystopian future3 quotes
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. — George Orwell · 1949WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH — George Orwell · 1949If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever. — George Orwell · 1949Freedom3 quotes
If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. — George Orwell · 1944The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness, and that, for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better. — George Orwell · 1949Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. — George Orwell · 1949War3 quotes
War is the greatest of all agents of change. It speeds up all processes, wipes out minor distinctions, brings realities to the surface. Above all, war brings it home to the individual that he is not altogether an individual. It is only because they are aware of this that men will die on the field of battle. — George Orwell · 1941There are occasions when it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all. — George Orwell · 1938All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting. — George Orwell · 1938Communism2 quotes
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. — George Orwell · 1945The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. — George Orwell · 1945Freedom in poverty2 quotes
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. — George Orwell · 1933Within certain limits, it is actually true that the less money you have, the less you worry. — George Orwell · 1933Jokes2 quotes
Whatever is funny is subversive, every joke is ultimately a custard pie...A dirty joke is not, of course, a serious attack upon morality, but it is a sort of mental rebellion, a momentary wish that things were otherwise. — George Orwell · 1941A joke worth laughing at always has an idea behind it, and usually a subversive idea. — George Orwell · 1940Nature of freedom2 quotes
If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. — George Orwell · 1944Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. — George Orwell · 1949Political progress2 quotes
To think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration. — George Orwell · 1946If you had asked me why I had joined the militia I should have answered: "To fight against Fascism," and if you had asked me what I was fighting for, I should have answered: "Common decency." — George Orwell · 1938Political theory2 quotes
The relative freedom which we enjoy depends of public opinion. The law is no protection. Governments make laws, but whether they are carried out, and how the police behave, depends on the general temper in the country. If large numbers of people are interested in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it; if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them. — George Orwell · 1945There are only four ways in which a ruling class can fall from power. Either it is conquered from without, or it governs so inefficiently that the masses are stirred to revolt, or it allows a strong and discontented Middle group to come into being, or it loses its own self-confidence and willingness to govern. These causes do not operate singly, and as a rule all four of them are present in some degree. A ruling class which could guard against all of them would remain in power permanently. Ultimately the determining factor is the mental attitude of the ruling class itself. — George Orwell · 1949Poverty2 quotes
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. — George Orwell · 1933Within certain limits, it is actually true that the less money you have, the less you worry. — George Orwell · 1933Propaganda2 quotes
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH — George Orwell · 1949Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. — George Orwell · 1946Revolution2 quotes
The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. — George Orwell · 1945There are only four ways in which a ruling class can fall from power. Either it is conquered from without, or it governs so inefficiently that the masses are stirred to revolt, or it allows a strong and discontented Middle group to come into being, or it loses its own self-confidence and willingness to govern. These causes do not operate singly, and as a rule all four of them are present in some degree. A ruling class which could guard against all of them would remain in power permanently. Ultimately the determining factor is the mental attitude of the ruling class itself. — George Orwell · 1949The future2 quotes
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever. — George Orwell · 1949Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. — George Orwell · 1949The masses2 quotes
The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness, and that, for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better. — George Orwell · 1949"If there is hope," he had written in the diary, "it lies in the proles." — George Orwell · 1949Thinking for oneself2 quotes
Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad. — George Orwell · 1949Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness. — George Orwell · 1949Writing2 quotes
Good prose is like a windowpane. — George Orwell · 1946The 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. — George Orwell · 1946Aging1 quote
At 50, everyone has the face he deserves. — George Orwell · 1949Atheism1 quote
He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him). — George Orwell · 1933Awareness1 quote
Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness. — George Orwell · 1949Bad writing1 quote
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. — George Orwell · 1946Beliefs1 quote
DOUBLETHINK means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. — George Orwell · 1949Christianity1 quote
As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents. — George Orwell · 1937Clothes make the man1 quote
Clothes are powerful things. Dressed in a tramp's clothes it is very difficult, at any rate for the first day, not to feel that you are genuinely degraded. — George Orwell · 1933Clothing1 quote
Clothes are powerful things. Dressed in a tramp's clothes it is very difficult, at any rate for the first day, not to feel that you are genuinely degraded. — George Orwell · 1933Defeat1 quote
There are occasions when it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all. — George Orwell · 1938Disinformation1 quote
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. — George Orwell · 1949Effects of aging1 quote
At 50, everyone has the face he deserves. — George Orwell · 1949Effects of war1 quote
War is the greatest of all agents of change. It speeds up all processes, wipes out minor distinctions, brings realities to the surface. Above all, war brings it home to the individual that he is not altogether an individual. It is only because they are aware of this that men will die on the field of battle. — George Orwell · 1941