George Orwell Quotes - Page 5

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• The essence of oligarchical rule is not father-to-son inheritance, but the persistence of a certain world-view and a certain way of life, imposed by the dead upon the living. A ruling group is a ruling group so long as it can nominate its successors. The Party is not concerned with perpetuating its blood but with perpetuating itself. Who wields power is not important, provided that the hierarchical structure remains always the same.

  George Orwell

  Father, Son, Persistence

  "1984".

  68 Copy quote

• The point is that we are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.

  George Orwell

  Faith, Believe, Reality

  After World War II; quoted in the London Financial Times, 13 May 2003.

  35 Copy quote

• Using clichés is a substitute for thinking

  George Orwell

  Thinking, Substitutes

  26 Copy quote

• The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.

  George Orwell

  Peace, Military, War

  Polemic May 1946 "Second Thoughts on James Burnham"

  10 Copy quote

• By 'nationalism' I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions and tens of millions of people can be confidently labeled 'good' or 'bad'...By 'patriotism' I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power.

  George Orwell

  Block, Believe, Mean

  53 Copy quote

• Those who 'abjure' violence can do so only because others are committing violence on their behalf.

  George Orwell

  Violence, Behalf, Can Do

  George Orwell, Ian Angus, Sheila Davison (1998). “The Complete Works of George Orwell: I belong to the Left: 1945”

  18 Copy quote

• 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.

  George Orwell

  Peace, Political Language, Atrocities Committed

  George Orwell, Ian Angus, Sheila Davison (1998). “The Complete Works of George Orwell: I belong to the Left: 1945”

  75 Copy quote

• England is the most class-ridden country under the sun. It is a land of snobbery and privilege, ruled largely by the old and silly.

  George Orwell

  Country, Silly, Land

  George Orwell (2009). “Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays”, p.124, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  7 Copy quote

• Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible.

  George Orwell

  Winning, Achievement, Corrupt Power

  George Orwell, Ian Angus, Sheila Davison (1998). “The Complete Works of George Orwell: Smothered under journalism, 1946”

  64 Copy quote

• They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening

  George Orwell

  Reality, Tyrants, Events

  George Orwell (2003). “1984”, Plume Books

  15 Copy quote

• The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.

  George Orwell

  Lying, Choices, Freedom And Happiness

  64 Copy quote

• It is not possible for any thinking person to live in such a society as our own without wanting to change it.

  George Orwell

  Thinking, Persons, Thinking Person

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

  16 Copy quote

• Every Joke is a Tiny Revolution

  George Orwell

  Humor, Tiny, Revolution

  George Orwell, Ian Angus, Sheila Davison (1998). “The Complete Works of George Orwell: I have tried to tell the truth, 1943-1944”

  18 Copy quote

• In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the hammer.

  George Orwell

  Real, Hammers, Anvils

  George Orwell (1970). “A Collection of Essays”, p.159, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  20 Copy quote

• The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.

  George Orwell

  Life, Wisdom, Believe

  Shooting an Elephant 'Reflections on Gandhi'

  23 Copy quote

• The choice before human beings, is not, as a rule , between good and evil but between two evils. You can let the Nazis rule the world : that is evil; or you can overthrow them by war , which is also evil. There is no other choice before you, and whichever you choose you will not come out with clean hands.

  George Orwell

  War, Hands, Two

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.175, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  26 Copy quote

• There are some things only intellectuals are crazy enough to believe.

  George Orwell

  Inspirational, Crazy, Believe

  11 Copy quote

• To survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty yourself.

  George Orwell

  Dirty, Fighting, Survival

  25 Copy quote

• You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves.

  George Orwell

  Empty, Hollow

  George Orwell (2001). “The Complete Novels of George Orwell: Animal Farm, Burmese Days, A Clergyman's Daughter, Coming Up for Air, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Nineteen Eighty-Four”, p.1351, Penguin UK

  10 Copy quote

• The upper class desire to remain so, the middle class wish to overthrow the upper class, and the lower class want a classless system.

  George Orwell

  Class, Wish, Desire

  24 Copy quote

• As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.

  George Orwell

  Christian, Political, Advertising

  The Road toWigan Pier ch. 11 (1937)

  18 Copy quote

• Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting.

  George Orwell

  Jealousy, Sports, War

  "The Sporting Spirit" (1945)

  96 Copy quote

• The fallacy is to believe that under a dictatorial government you can be free inside

  George Orwell

  Believe, Government, Fallacy

  George Orwell (1986). “The complete works of George Orwell”

  20 Copy quote

• History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.

  George Orwell

  Party, Endless

  George Orwell (2012). “1984”, p.51, Oberon Books

  14 Copy quote

• All left-wing parties in the highly industrialized countries are at bottom a sham, because they make it their business to fight against something which they do not really wish to destroy. They have internationalist aims, and at the same time they struggle to keep up a standard of life with which those aims are incompatible. We all live by robbing Asiatic coolies, and those of us who are 'enlightened' all maintain that those coolies ought to be set free; but our standard of living, and hence our 'enlightenment,' demands that the robbery shall continue.

  George Orwell

  Country, Struggle, Party

  George Orwell (1956). “The Orwell Reader: Fiction, Essays, and Reportage”, New York : Harcourt, Brace

  12 Copy quote

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