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George Orwell

George Orwell Quotes

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Famous George Orwell Quotes

“But the proles, if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strength, would have no need to conspire. They needed only to rise up and shake themselves like a horse shaking off flies. If they chose they could blow the Party to pieces tomorrow morning. Surely sooner or later it must occur to them to do it? And yet --!”

IfsNeedsPartyMorningPiecesNeededTomorrowConsciousHorseBlowShakesSooner Or LaterShakingTomorrow Morning
Book:Animal Farm and 1984
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“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.”

PeopleIfsLooksSaidCoursesDifferencesDoorsFiguresEssentialsPicksStandingTradeWeatherUselessEtcWorking ItStanding OutVeinsRespectableBeggarLivelihoodAccountantsBronchitis
Author:George Orwell
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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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“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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“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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“While the game of deadlocks and bottle-necks goes on, another more serious game is also being played. It is governed by two axioms. One is that there can be no peace without a general surrender of sovereignty: the other is that no country capable of defending its sovereignty ever surrenders it. If one keeps these axioms in mind one can generally see the relevant facts in international affairs through the smoke-screen with which the newspapers surround them.”

IfsMindTwoCountryFactsGamesSeriousGoes OnCapableAffairInternationalScreensNewspapersSurrenderSmokeNecksBottlesSurroundRelevantSovereigntyAxiomsBeing PlayedInternational Affairs
Book:The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell: In front of your nose, 1945-1950
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“The English are probably more capable than most peoples of making revolutionary change without bloodshed. In England, if anywhere,it would be possible to abolish poverty without destroying liberty.”

IfsWould BeLibertyPovertyCapableEnglandRevolutionaryDestroyingAbolishBloodshedRevolutionary Change
Book:The English People: With 8 Plates in Colour and 17 Illus. in Black and White
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“Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional [or scholarly] writers.”

IfsThinkingFirstsPoliticalFightingStepsWrittenTroubleModernWillingHabitConcernSpreadFirst StepsImitationExclusiveAvoidedBad HabitsFrivolousRegenerationScholarlyModern English
Book:A Collection of Essays
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“When you make love you're using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don't give a damn for anything. They can't bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you're happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?”

IfsWantGivingFeelsShouldYearsTwoBigsHateThreeEnergySexGonePlansMinutesLove YouBrotherBearsDown AndExcitedDamnCheerThree YearsFlagsBloodyMaking LoveUp And DownSourBurstingDon't Give A Damn
Book:Animal Farm and 1984
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“During part of 1941 and 1942, when the Luftwaffe was busy in Russia, the German radio regaled its home audience with stories of devastating air raids on London. Now, we are aware that those raids did not happen. But what use would our knowledge be if the Germans conquered Britain? For the purpose of a future historian, did those raids happen, or didn't they? The answer is: If Hitler survives, they happened, and if he falls they didn't happen.”

IfsStoriesUseHomeHappensPurposeFallAnswersAudienceHappenedAirBusyRadioLondonRussiaBritainHistorian
Book:The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell: As I please, 1943-1945
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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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“It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it; consequently, the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning.”

IfsKindCountryMightPoliticalPoliticsFeltDemocracyClaimsPraiseDemocraticThriveRegimesTiedDefenders
Book:The collected essays, journalism, and letters of George Orwell
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“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”

IfsWritingLongBookStruggleWrittenPainfulIllnessDrivenHorribleDemonWriting LifeWriting AdviceWriting A BookExhaustingWriters And WritingBook WritingWriter's BlockWriting By WritersReading And WritingCreativity And WritingWriters ReadingWriting And ReadingInspiration To WriteReading WritingWriting ShortEditing And WritingShort Writing
Book:A Collection of Essays
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“Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically help out that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, 'he that is not with me is against me'.”

IfsWayWarRealHelpingPoliticsSidesCommonEffortPracticeCommon SenseAnti WarFascistsPacifismHamper
Book:The complete works of George Orwell
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“Facts, at any rate, could not be kept hidden. They could be tracked down by inquiry, they could be squeezed out of you by torture. But if the object was not to stay alive but to stay human, what difference did it ultimately make? They could not alter your feelings, for that matter you could not alter them yourself, even if you wanted to. They could lay bare in the utmost detail everything that you had done or said or thought; but the inner heart, whose workings were mysterious even to yourself, remained impregnable.”

IfsHumansHeartSaidMatterDoneFactsFeelingsWantedDifferencesAliveObjectsLaysRateDetailsMysteriousTortureInquiryStaying Alive
Author:George Orwell
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“I felt as if I was the only person awake in a city of sleepwalkers. That's an illusion, of course. When you walk through a crowd of strangers it's next door to impossible not to imagine that they're all waxworks, but probably they're thinking just the same about you.”

IfsThinkingPersonsCoursesNextFeltWalksCitiesImagineImpossibleDoorsIllusionCrowdsStrangerAwakeImagine That
Book:The Penguin complete novels of George Orwell
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“Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out always cut it out. Never use the passive voice where you can use the active. Never use a foreign phrase a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.”

IfsThinkingLongUseUsedVoiceBreakCuttingSeeingFiguresSpeechEverydayMetaphorActivePhrasesPrintPassiveSay AnythingSimileJargonFigures Of SpeechLong WordsPassive Voice
Book:Shooting an Elephant: And Other Essays
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“There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always— do not forget this, Winston— always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever.”

IfsWantHumansMomentsFacesProcessForgetPleasureEnemyForeverGrowingImagineVictoryCuriosityDestroyedEnjoymentSensationsBootsHelplessThrillCompetingIntoxicationHuman FacesProcess Of Life
Book:Nineteen eighty-four, [by] George Orwell
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“If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred and self-righteousness on which his morale depends might evaporate.”

IfsWorldMayHas BeensSelfHandsMightWould BeLyingSidesBrokenDependsCreaturesHatredContactBombsDeceitRighteousnessEgyptFrontiersForeignersMoraleSelf RighteousnessJavaPersia
Author:George Orwell
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“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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