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George Orwell

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Famous George Orwell Quotes

“If one looks closely one sees that there is no essential difference between a beggar's livelihood and that of numberless respectable people. Beggars do not work, it is said; but then, what is work? A navvy works by swinging a pick. An accountant works by adding up figures. A beggar works by standing out of doors in all weathers and getting varicose veins, chronic bronchitis, etc. It is a trade like any other; quite useless, of course - but then, many reputable trades are quite useless.”

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Author:George Orwell
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“In some ways she was far more acute than Winston, and far less susceptible to Party propaganda. Once when he happened in some connection to mention the war against Eurasia, she startled him by saying casually that in her opinion the war was not happening. The rocket bombs which fell daily on London were probably fired by the Government of Oceania itself, "just to keep the people frightened."”

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Book:1984
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“Many people genuinely do not wish to be saints, and it is probable that some who achieve or aspire to sainthood have never felt much temptation to be human beings. If one could follow it to its psychological roots, one would, I believe, find that the main motive for "non-attachment" is a desire to escape from the pain of living, and above all from love, which, sexual or non-sexual, is hard work.”

PeopleIfsBelieveHumansHardPainDesireI BelieveWishFeltHuman BeingsAchieveHard WorkRootsSaintPsychologicalTemptationMotiveAttachmentAspireSainthood
Book:Our job is to make life worth living, 1949-1950
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“By preaching the doctrine that nothing is to be admired except steel and concrete, one merely makes it a little surer that human beings will have no outlet for their surplus energy except in hatred and leader worship.”

HumansLittlesEnergyHuman BeingsLeaderWorshipHatredDoctrineConcretePreachingSteelOutletsSurplus
Book:The Complete Works of George Orwell: Smothered under journalism, 1946
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“In a Society in which there is no law, and in theory no compulsion, the only arbiter of behaviour is public opinion. But public opinion, because of the tremendous urge to conformity in gregarious animals, is less tolerant than any system of law. When human beings are governed by "thou shalt not", the individual can practise a certain amount of eccentricity: when they are supposedly governed by "love" or "reason", he is under continuous pressure to make him behave and think in exactly the same way as everyone else.”

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Book:All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays
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“England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during God save the King than of stealing from a poor box.”

FeelsCountryFactsLeftFeltPoorAttentionStrangeDutyKingsIntellectualStandingHorseEnglandInstitutionsWingsBoxesCirclesStealingAshamedRacingNationalityEnglishmenLeft WingGreat CountryPuddingDisgracefulHorse Racing
Book:A Collection of Essays
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“[A] world in which it is wrong to murder an individual civilian and right to drop a thousand tons of high explosive on a residential area does sometimes make me wonder whether this earth of ours is not a loony bin made use of by some other planet. Not to have a national anthem would be logical.”

WorldDoeMadeSometimesUseWould BeEarthIndividualWonderPlanetsThousandAreasMurderLogicalCiviliansExplosivesAnthemNational Anthem
Book:The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell: As I please, 1943-1945
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“In any form of art designed to appeal to large numbers of people,...[t]he rich man is usually 'bad', and his machinations are invariably frustrated.:; 'Good poor man defeats bad rich man' is an accepted formula.”

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Book:The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell: As I please, 1943-1945
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“There is a geographical element in all belief-saying what seem profound truths in India have a way of seeming enormous platitudes in England, and vice versa . Perhaps the fundamental difference is that beneath a tropical sun individuality seems less distinct and the loss of it less important.”

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Book:A kind of compulsion, 1903-1936
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“I am struck again by the fact that as soon as a working man gets an official post in the Trade Union or goes into Labour politics, he becomes middle-class whether he will or no. ie. by fighting against the bourgeoisie he becomes a bourgeois. The fact is that you cannot help living in the manner appropriate and developing the ideology appropriate to your income.”

MenFactsHelpingFightingClassMiddleHe ManTradeUnionsIncomeIdeologyDevelopingPostsOfficialsAppropriateMiddle ClassLabourBourgeoisBourgeoisieWorking ManTrade Unions
Author:George Orwell
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“The choice before human beings, is not, as a rule , between good and evil but between two evils. You can let the Nazis rule the world : that is evil; or you can overthrow them by war , which is also evil. There is no other choice before you, and whichever you choose you will not come out with clean hands.”

WorldHumansTwoWarHandsChoicesEvilHuman BeingsCleanGood And EvilYou ChooseNaziTwo EvilsClean Hands
Book:All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays
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“I always disagree, however, when people end up saying that we can only combat Communism, Fascism or what not if we develop an equal fanaticism. It appears to me that one defeats the fanatic precisely by not being a fanatic oneself, but on the contrary by using one's intelligence.”

PeopleIfsEndsEqualDefeatOneselfContraryCommunismCombatDisagreeFascismFanaticsFanaticism
Book:The Complete Works of George Orwell: Our job is to make life worth living, 1949-1950
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“In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did not need a passport for any country except Russia.:; The European emigrant, if he could scrape together a few pounds for the passage, simply set sail for America or Australia, and when he got there no questions were asked.:; In the eighteenth century it had been quite normal and safe to travel in a country with which your own country was at war.”

IfsWorldNeedsWarCountryTogetherAmericaCenturySafeNormalRussiaAustraliaPoundsPassagesSailRestrictionNineteenth CenturyPassportsUnexplored
Book:The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell: As I please, 1943-1945
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“One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words ' Socialism ' and ' Communism ' draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, 'Nature Cure' quack, pacifist, and feminist in England.”

SometimesForceSexDrawsEnglandMereFruitFeministImpressionSocialismCuresCommunismJuiceMagneticPacifistDrinkersManiacsQuakerQuacksSandalsNudistsMagnetic ForceSex ManiacFruit Juice
Book:Orwell's England: the Road to Wigan Pier in the context of essays, reviews, letters and poems selected from the Complete works of George Orwell
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“It is difficult for a statesman who still has a political future to reveal everything that he knows: and in a profession in which one is a baby at 50 and middle-aged at seventy-five, it is natural that anyone who has not actually been disgraced should feel that he still has a future.”

KnowsFeelsShouldStillsPoliticalDifficultNaturalFiveMiddleBabyProfessionSeventiesStatesmenMiddle Aged
Book:The collected essays, journalism, and letters of George Orwell
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“By 'nationalism' I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions and tens of millions of people can be confidently labeled 'good' or 'bad'...By 'patriotism' I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power.”

PeopleWorldWayFirstsBelieveHumansMeanWholeHandsDesireForceWishHuman BeingsMillionsParticularHabitEthicsAssumingDevotionBlockNationalismInsectsInseparableDesire For Power
Author:George Orwell
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“In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.”

PeopleWritingFacesPoliticalLanguagePartySpeechArgumentIndiaAimBritishDefenseOur TimeBombsJapanSquaresAtomsBrutalSheerPolitical PartiesDroppingBeggingCloudyEuphemismAtom BombDeportationContinuanceVaguenessPolitical SpeechesPolitical LanguageBritish RuleSpeech And WritingBritish Rule In India
Book:Orwell and Politics
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“As soon as you think of fishing you think of things that don't belong to the modern world. The very idea of sitting all day under a willow tree beside a quiet pool - and being able to find a quiet pool to sit beside- belongs to a time before the war, before radio, before aeroplanes, before Hitler.”

ThinkingWorldIdeasWarAbleTreeSeaModernQuietSittingRiversFishesRadioBoatLakesFishingPoolModern WorldAeroplanesWillow Trees
Book:Coming Up for Air
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“Some people have a knack, for example, of being able to tell when someone's lying to them. They may not know what the truth is, but they can tell when someone is trying to lead them astray or sell them something shady. I think he had that ability to an amazing degree. I also think he thought, without saying it explicitly, that you can convince a crowd of something that's not true more easily than you can one person at a time.”

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Author:George Orwell
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“Creeds like pacifism or anarchism, which seem on the surface to imply a complete renunciation of power, rather encourage this habit of mind. For if you have embraced a creed which appears to be free from the ordinary dirtiness of politics ... the more you are in the right (and) everybody else should be bullied into thinking otherwise.”

IfsThinkingShouldMindSeemsAtheismHabitOrdinaryPositive AtheismSurfaceCreedsAnarchismBulliedRenunciationPacifismHabits Of MindDirtiness
Book:All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays
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