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George Orwell Quotes

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Famous George Orwell Quotes

“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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“Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one. At one time it had been a sign of madness to believe that the Earth goes round the Sun; today, to believe the past is inalterable. He might be alone in holding that belief, and if alone, then a lunatic. But the thought of being a lunatic did not greatly trouble him; the horror was that he might also be wrong.”

IfsBelieveMightTodayEarthPastBeliefSunTroubleHorrorMadnessRoundsMinoritiesOne TimeLunatic
Author:George Orwell
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“Money has become the grand test of virtue. By this test beggars fail, and for this they are despised. If one could earn even ten pounds a week at begging, it would become a respectable profession immediately. A beggar, looked at realistically, is simply a businessman, getting his living, like other businessmen, in the way that comes to hand. He has not, more than most modem people, sold his honour; he has merely made the mistake of choosing a trade at which it is impossible to grow rich.”

PeopleIfsWayMadeHandsGrowsMistakeVirtueRichImpossibleFailingWeekTenTestsTradeProfessionPoundsHonourBusinessmanRespectableBeggarBeggingDespised
Book:Homage to Catalonia / Down and Out in Paris and London
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“Lastly, tea--unless one is drinking it in the Russian style--should be drunk WITHOUT SUGAR. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea-lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.”

IfsKnowsShouldWellsStillsWould BeWaterStyleLoversDrinkHotDrinkingBitterDrunkTeaBeerReasonableMinoritiesMeant To BeSugarSaltTastingPeppersDissolvingFlavourHot WaterSweet Tea
Book:Smothered under journalism: 1946
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“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.”

PeopleIfsCountryGovernmentLawEnjoyFreedomNumbersOpinionDependsProtectSpeechPoliceProtectionBehaveMinoritiesRelativeTemperFreedom Of SpeechPublic OpinionLarge NumbersPersecutedInconvenientSluggish
Book:Fifty Essays (George Orwell) (Literary Thoughts Edition)
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“Political writing in our time consists almost entirely of prefabricated phrases bolted together like the pieces of a child's Meccano set. It is the unavoidable result of self-censorship. To write in plain, vigorous language one has to think fearlessly, and if one thinks fearlessly one cannot be politically orthodox.”

IfsThinkingWritingChildrenSelfTogetherPoliticalLanguageResultsPiecesPhrasesOur TimeOrthodoxCensorshipVigorousSelf CensorshipPolitical Writing
Book:The complete works of George Orwell
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“A plongeur is a slave, and a wasted slave, doing stupid and largely unnecessary work. He is kept at work, ultimately, because of a vague feeling that he would be dangerous if he had leisure. And educated people, who should be on his side, acquiesce in the process, because they know nothing about him and consequently are afraid of him.”

PeopleIfsKnowsShouldFeelingsWould BeFearProcessSidesDangerousStupidSlaveEducatedLeisureUnnecessaryVague
Book:Down and Out in Paris and London
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“Winston worked in the RECORDS DEPARTMENT (a single branch of the Ministry of Truth) editing and writing for The Times. He dictated into a machine called a Speakwrite. Winston would receive articles or news-items which for one reason or another it was thought necessary to alter, or, in Newspeak, rectify. If, for example, the Ministry of Plenty forecast a surplus, and in reality the result was grossly less, Winston's job was to change previous versions so the old version would agree with the new one.”

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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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“The capitalists owned everything in the world, and everyone else was their slave. They owned all the land, all the houses, all the factories, and all the money. If anyone disobeyed them they could throw him into prison, or they could take his job away and starve him to death. When any ordinary person spoke to a capitalist he had to cringe and bow to him, and take off his cap and address him as 'Sir'”

IfsWorldPersonsJobsHouseLandOrdinaryPrisonSlaveAddressesSpokesFactoriesConspiracyCapitalistBowsCapsCringeOrdinary Person
Book:Nineteen Eighty-Four
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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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“Scientific education for the masses will do little good, and probably a lot of harm, if it simply boils down to more physics, more chemistry, more biology, etc to the detriment of literature and history. Its probable effect on the average human being would be to narrow the range of his thoughts and make him more than ever contemptuous of such knowledge as he did not possess.”

IfsKnowsHumansLittlesWould BeLiteratureHuman BeingsEffectsMassAverageHarmPhysicsRangeEtcBiologyChemistryContemptuousLefties
Author:George Orwell
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“In my opinion, nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of socialism as the belief that Russia is a socialist country and that every act of its rulers must be excused, if not imitated. And so for the last ten years, I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the socialist movement.”

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Book:It is what I think, 1947-1948
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“If you ask any ordinary reader which of Dickens's proletarian characters he can remember, the three he is almost certain to mention are Bill Sykes, Sam Weller and Mrs. Gamp. A burglar, a valet and a drunken midwife-not exactly a representative cross-section of the English working class.”

IfsCharacterRememberCertainThreeAsksClassReaderOrdinaryCrossesBillsRepresentativesWorking ClassSectionsDickensMidwifeBurglarsValet
Book:A Collection of Essays
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