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George Orwell

George Orwell Quotes

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Famous George Orwell Quotes

“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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“The men who were well enough to stand had moved across the carriage to cheer the Italians as they went past. A crutch waved out of the window; bandaged forearms made the Red Salute. It was like an allegorical picture of war; the trainload of fresh men gliding proudly up the line, the maimed men sliding slowly down, and all the while the guns on the open trucks making one's heart leap as guns always do, and reviving that pernicious feeling, so difficult to get rid of, that war *is* glorious after all.”

MenWellsHeartMadeWarEnoughFeelingsPastDifficultLinesGunRedWindowDown AndMovedGloriousLeapCheerTruckPerniciousSaluteCarriagesCrutchesGliding
Book:Homage to Catalonia / Down and Out in Paris and London
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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 result of this is that so-called peace propaganda is just as dishonest and intellectually disgusting as war propaganda. Like war propaganda, it concentrates on putting forward a ‘case’, obscuring the opponent’s point of view and avoiding awkward questions.”

WarResultsViewsCasesPoint Of ViewPropagandaOpponentsAwkwardDisgustingAvoidingWar Propaganda
Book:The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell: My country right or left, 1940-1943
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“The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education and fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which is responsible for economic affairs. their names, in Newspeak: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv and Miniplenty”

ArtWarLawOrderNamesEconomicFineNewsConcernedResponsibleAffairEntertainmentPlentyMemorableMinistryFine ArtsLaw And Order
Book:1984
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“The fact is that every war suffers a kind of progressive degradation with every month that it continues, because such things as individual liberty and a truthful press are simply not compatible with military efficiency.”

KindWarFactsSufferingIndividualLibertyMilitaryMonthsPressesProgressiveAntiwarTruthfulEfficiencyDegradationCompatibleIndividual Liberty
Book:Homage to Catalonia / Down and Out in Paris and London
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“The two aims of the Party are to conquer the whole surface of the earth and to extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought. There are therefore two great problems which the Party is concerned to solve. One is how to discover, against his will, what another human being is thinking, and the other is how to kill several hundred million people in a few seconds without giving warning beforehand.”

PeopleThinkingGivingHumansTwoWarWholeProblemEarthHuman BeingsPartyMillionsPossibilityHundredConcernedAimIndependentSolveSurfaceConquerSecondsWarningIndependent Thought
Book:The Penguin complete novels of George Orwell
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“You must have seen great changes since you were a young man," said Winston tentatively. The old man's pale blue eyes moved from the darts board to the bar, and from the bar to the door of the Gents ... "The beer was better," he said finally. "And cheaper! When I was a young man, mild beer - wallop we used to call it - was fourpence a pint. That was before the war, of course." "Which war was that?" said Winston. "It's all wars," said the old man vaguely. He took up his glass, and his shoulders straightened again. "'Ere's wishing you the very best of 'ealth!”

MenSaidWarEyeYoungUsedCoursesWishDoorsBlueMovedGlassesBarsShouldersBeerBoardsYoung ManOld ManPaleCheaperBlue EyesPintsGreat ChangeDartsGents
Author:George Orwell
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“Bombing is not especially inhumane. War itself is inhumane and the bombing plane, which is used to paralyse industry and transport, is a relatively civilised weapon. 'Normal' or 'legitimate' warfare is just as destructive of inanimate objects and enormously so of human lives.”

HumansWarUsedObjectsIndustryNormalWeaponsHistoricalPlanesHuman LifeDestructiveWarfareTransportBombingCivilisedInanimate ObjectsInhumane
Book:Fifty Essays (George Orwell) (Literary Thoughts Edition)
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“The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.”

WayHumansLongWarMightRunningUsedPiecesSeaMaterialsProductsEssentialsComfortableMassLaborDestructionIntelligentDepthHuman LifeLong RunsPouringSinkingShattering
Book:Animal Farm and 1984
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“During the first two months of the war it was the Anarchists more than anyone else who had saved the situation, and much later than this the Anarchist militia, in spite of their indiscipline, were notoriously the best fighters among the purely Spanish forces.”

FirstsTwoWarForceSituationMonthsSavedFighterRevolutionarySpiteAnarchistTwo MonthsMilitia
Book:Homage to Catalonia / Down and Out in Paris and London
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“It was with the last revolution and the coming of INGSOC (Inglish/English Socialism) that the latest High learnt how to keep their position permanently - by cultivating ignorance among the other classes and by constantly surveying them through the Thought Police. Part of this strategy included the maintenance of a state of continual warfare, which Goldstein discussed in the third chapter. The three major powers were not fighting this perpetual war for victory; they were fighting to keep a state of emergency always present as the surest guarantee of authoritarianism.”

WarStatesLastsFightingThreePoliticsClassPositionIgnoranceRevolutionVictoryMajorsThirdsPoliceStrategySocialismGuaranteesPerpetualChaptersWarfareEmergenciesMaintenanceAuthoritarianismCultivatingThought PolicePerpetual War
Author:George Orwell
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