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George Orwell

George Orwell Quotes

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Famous George Orwell Quotes

“[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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“Totalitarianism, however, does not so much promise an age of faith as an age of schizophrenia. A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud. Such a society, no matter how long it persists, can never afford to become either tolerant or intellectually stable.”

LongDoeMatterFactsRunningAgePastLostForceExistenceClassPromiseSucceedDemandFunctionStructureObjectivesFraudArtificialStableLong RunsPersistRulingTotalitarianismDisbeliefClingingSchizophreniaAlterationsObjective Truth
Author:George Orwell
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“If publishers and editors exert themselves to keep certain topics out of print, it is not because they are frightened of prosecution but because they are frightened of public opinion. In this country intellectual cowardice is the worst enemy a writer or journalist has to face, and that fact does not seem to me to have had the discussion it deserves.”

IfsDoeCountryFactsSeemsFacesCertainOpinionEnemyWorstIntellectualDeserveJournalistDiscussionPrintFrightenedEditorsCowardiceTopicsPublishersPublic OpinionWorst EnemyProsecution
Book:Animal farm: a fairy story
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“Modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. The attraction of this way of writing is that it is easy.”

WayWritingLongDoeTogetherOrderEasyResultsModernWorstSakeAttractionSheerInventingHumbug
Book:A Collection of Essays
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“We believe half-instinctively that evil always defeats itself in the long run. Pacifism is founded largely on this belief. Don't resist evil, and it will somehow destroy itself. But why should it? What evidence is there that it does... unless conquered from the outside by military force?”

ShouldBelieveLongDoeRunningEvilBeliefForceHalfMilitaryEvidenceDefeatLong RunsPacifismMilitary Force
Book:Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays
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“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals.”

MenGivingDoeEnoughRunningFearAnimalLordAtheismCreaturesEqualWeakLaysRagePetEggsFarmsAnimal RightsMilkRabbitsAnimal WelfareAnimal CrueltyAnimal LoveHumans And AnimalsAnimal CompassionAnimal TestingHumans And DogsCompassion Towards AnimalsPloughingSaving AnimalsProtect Animals
Book:Animal Farm and 1984
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“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”

DoeLiteraturePeaceSidesCapacityCommittedHearingDeceitPatriotismRemarkableNationalismTyrantsAnti WarFairnessAtrocitiesWar On TerrorPeace WarMilitarismMake Peace Not WarPeace Not WarPatriotism And NationalismUnpatrioticWar PropagandaAnti PatriotismPatriotism And WarPolitical LanguageAtrocities Committed
Book:The Complete Works of George Orwell: I belong to the Left: 1945
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“Even the humblest Party member is expected to be competent, industrious, and even intelligent within narrow limits, but it is also necessary that he should be a credulous and ignorant fanatic whose prevailing moods are fear, hatred, adulation, and orgiastic triumph. In other words it is necessary that he should have the mentality appropriate to a state of war. It does not matter whether the war is actually happening, and, since no decisive victory is possible, it does not matter whether the war is going well or badly. All that is needed is that a state of war should exist.”

ShouldWellsDoeWarMatterStatesPartyNeededVictoryLimitsMembersHappeningsHatredShould HaveIntelligentExpectedMoodIgnorantTriumphAppropriateMentalityFanaticsCompetentPrevailingIndustriousAdulation
Book: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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“The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and 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.”

LoveHumansDoeEndsSometimesIndividualSinImpossibleWillingBrokenPerfectionEssencePreparedSakeLoyaltyCommitPreparationInevitableFriendlyDefeatedBeing HumanIntercourseAsceticismBroken Up
Book:All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays
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“Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them. There is almost no kind of outrage-torture, imprisonment without trial, assassination, the bombing of civilians-which does not change its moral color when it is committed by 'our' side. The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”

KindDoeActionSidesMoralColorCapacityCommittedHearingTerrorismBe GoodTrialsTyrannyMeritTorturePatriotismRemarkableTyrantsCiviliansOutrageBombingAtrocitiesAssassinationImprisonmentAtrocities Committed
Author:George Orwell
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“[What Hayek] does not see, or will not admit, [is] that a return to "free" competition means for the great mass of people a tyranny probably worse, because more irresponsible, than that of the State. The trouble with competitions is that somebody wins them. Professor Hayek denies that free capitalism necessarily leads to monopoly, but in practice that is where it has led, and since the vast majority of people would far rather have State regimentation than slumps and unemployment, the drift towards collectivism is bound to continue if popular opinion has any say in the matter.”

PeopleIfsMeanDoeMatterStatesWinningOpinionPracticeTroubleReturnMassCapitalismMajorityCompetitionBoundsDenyLibertarianTyrannyProfessorsUnemploymentMonopolyIrresponsibleCollectivismPopular OpinionHayekSlumpsRegimentation
Book:Orwell: The Observer Years
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“A thing which I regret, and which I will try to remedy some time, is that I have never in my life planted a walnut. Nobody does plant them nowadays-when you see a walnut it is almost invariably an old tree. If you plant a walnut you are planting it for your grandchildren, and who cares a damn for his grandchildren?”

IfsTryingDoeCareTreeRegretPlantDamnRemedyGrandchildrenWho CaresI RegretOld TreesWalnuts
Book:Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays
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