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George Orwell

George Orwell Quotes

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Famous George Orwell Quotes

“And if our book consumption remains as low as it has been, at least let us admit that it is because reading is a less exciting pastime than going to the dogs, the pictures or the pub, and not because books, whether bought or borrowed, are too expensive.”

IfsHas BeensBookReadingDogLowsExcitingRemainsExpensiveConsumptionBorrowedPubsPastime
Book:The Complete Works of George Orwell: Smothered under journalism, 1946
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“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.”

IfsThinkingHumansLongDoneRunningHuman BeingsPovertySecurityIgnoranceMassFunctionBasesEnjoyedMinoritiesRealisingLeisureLong RunsSooner Or LaterPrivilegedIgnorance In 19841984 Important
Book:Animal Farm and 1984
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“The educated man pictures a horde of submen, wanting only a day's liberty to loot his house, burn his books, and set him to work minding a machine or sweeping out a lavatory. 'Anything,' he thinks, 'any injustice, sooner than let that mob loose.' He does not see that since there is no difference between the mass of rich and poor, there is no question of setting the mob loose. The mob is in fact loose now, and--in the shape of rich men--is using its power to set up enormous treadmills of boredom, such as 'smart' hotels.”

ThinkingMenDoeBookFactsHouseDifferencesPoorLibertyRichShapesMassSmartMachinesInjusticeEnormousSettingEducatedSettingsBoredomHotelRich And PoorRich ManSweepingHordeTreadmillsEducated Man
Book:Down and Out in Paris and London
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“In the past the need for a hierarchal form of society has been the doctrine specifically of the High. It had been preached by kings and aristocrats and the priests, lawyers and the like who were parasitical upon them, and it had generally been softened by promises of an imaginary world beyond the grave.”

WorldNeedsHas BeensPastFormKingsPromiseLawyerGravesDoctrinePriestsImaginaryUtopiaUtopianFuturisticImaginary WorldIgnorance In 1984
Book:Animal Farm and 1984
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“The mistake you make, don't you see,is in thinking one can live in a corrupt society without being corrupt oneself. After all, what do you achieve by refusing to make money? You're trying to behave as though one could stand right outside our economic system. But one can't. One's got to change the system, or one changes nothing. One can't put things right in a hole-and-corner way, if you take my meaning.”

IfsThinkingWayTryingMistakeEconomicAchieveOneselfCornersHolesMaking MoneyBehaveEconomic SystemsCorrupt Society
Author:George Orwell
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“What was happening was only the working-out of a process that had started years ago. The first step had been a secret, involuntary thought, the second had been the opening of the diary. He had moved from thoughts to words, and now from words to actions. The last step was something that would happen in the Ministry of Love. He had accepted it. The end was contained in the beginning.”

YearsFirstsEndsHappensActionLastsProcessSecretStepsHappeningsYears AgoMovedWork OutAcceptedOpeningFirst StepsMinistryDiariesInvoluntary
Book:Animal Farm and 1984
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“The aims of these three groups are entirely irreconcilable. The aim of the High is to remain where they are. The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim-for it is an abiding characteristic of the Low that they are too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives -is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal.”

MenLife IsThreeToo MuchGroupsMiddleEqualLowsConsciousAimCharacteristicsDistinctionDaily LifeCrushedAbidingAbolishDrudgeryIgnorance In 1984
Book:The Complete Novels of George Orwell: Animal Farm, Burmese Days, A Clergyman's Daughter, Coming Up for Air, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Nineteen Eighty-Four
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