George Orwell Quotes About Art

Quotes about: Art

• To write or even speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable words. Whoever writes English is involved in a struggle that never lets up even for a sentence. He is struggling against vagueness, against obscurity, against the lure of the decorative adjective, against the encroachment of Latin and Greek, and, above all, against the worn-out phrases and dead metaphors with which the language is cluttered up.

  George Orwell

  Art, Latin, Struggle

• The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.

  George Orwell

  Art, Attitude, Should Have

  George Orwell (2009). “Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays”, p.228, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, 'I am going to produce a work of art.' I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing.

  George Orwell

  Art, Lying, Book

  George Orwell (1970). “A Collection of Essays”, p.315, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• 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

  George Orwell

  Art, War, Memorable

  George Orwell (1961). “1984”

• To write or even speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable words.... Whoever writes English is involved in a struggle that never lets up even for a sentence.

  George Orwell

  Art, Struggle, Writing

  George Orwell (1968). “The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell: As I please, 1943-1945”

• All art is propaganda.

  George Orwell

  Art, Propaganda, Art Is

  George Orwell (1998). “A patriot after all, 1940-1941”, Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd

• In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning.

  George Orwell

  Art, Writing, Math

  George Orwell (1970). “A Collection of Essays”, p.161, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• 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.

  George Orwell

  Art, Men, Numbers

  George Orwell (1968). “The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell: As I please, 1943-1945”

• During five literary generations every enlightened person had despised him, and at the end of that time nine-tenths of those enlightened persons are forgotten and Kipling is in some sense still there.

  George Orwell

  Art, Generations, Nine

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.177, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• It reminded us that propaganda in some form or other lurks in every book, that every work of art has a meaning and a purpose - a political, social and religious purpose - that our aesthetic judgements are always coloured by our prejudices and beliefs

  George Orwell

  Religious, Art, Book

  George Orwell (1998). “The complete works of George Orwell”

• In all the useful arts the world is either standing still or going backwards.

  George Orwell

  Art, World, Futuristic

  George Orwell (1983). “1984”, p.418, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• The existence of good bad literature—the fact that one can be amused or excited or even moved by a book that one's intellect simply refuses to take seriously—is a reminder that art is not the same thing as cerebration.

  George Orwell

  Art, Book, Literature

  George Orwell (1968). “The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell: In front of your nose, 1945-1950”

• Using the word ‘political’ in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples’ idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.

  George Orwell

  Art, Attitude, Book

  George Orwell, Sonia Orwell, Ian Angus (1968). “The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell: An age like this, 1920-1940”, Harvill Secker

• The artist is to be exempt from the moral laws that are binding on ordinary people. Just pronounce the magic word "Art," and everything is O.K. Rotting corpses with snails crawling over them are O.K.; kicking little girls in the head is O.K.; even a film like L'Age d'Or is O.K.

  George Orwell

  Girl, Art, Law

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.216, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• All art is propaganda; on the other hand, not all propaganda is art.

  George Orwell

  Art, Hands, Propaganda

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