George Orwell Quotes - Page 16

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• ...in the negative part of Professor's Hayek's thesis there is a great deal of truth. It cannot be said too often - at any rate, it is not being said nearly often enough - that collectivism is not inherently democratic, but, on the contrary, gives to a tyrannical minority such powers as the Spanish Inquisitors never dreamt of.

  George Orwell

  Giving, Politics, Negative

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

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• The war is waged against its own subjects and its object is not the victory...but to keep the very structure of society intact.

  George Orwell

  War, Victory, Structure

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• England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality.

  George Orwell

  Country, England, Ashamed

  George Orwell (1970). “A Collection of Essays”, p.275, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• The slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.

  George Orwell

  Language, Foolish, Easier

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.270, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Good novels are not written by orthodoxy-sniffers, nor by people who are conscience-stricken about their own orthodoxy. Good novels are written by people who are not frightened.

  George Orwell

  Writing, People, Political

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

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• The ruling power is always faced with the question, ‘In such and such circumstances, what would you do?’, whereas the opposition is not obliged to take responsibility or make any real decisions.

  George Orwell

  Real, Responsibility, Decision

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.193, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• If I had understood the situation a bit better I should probably have joined the Anarchists.

  George Orwell

  Revolutionary, Anarchist, Should

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

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• As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.

  George Orwell

  Wisdom, Writing, History

  1941 The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius, pt.1,'England Your England'.

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• His answer to every problem, every setback was “I will work harder!” —which he had adopted as his personal motto.

  George Orwell

  Answers, Problem, Motto

  George Orwell (2016). “Animal Farm”, p.10, Hamilton Books

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• We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.

  George Orwell

  Enemy

  George Orwell, A.M. Heath (2003). “Animal Farm and 1984”, p.344, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Paty, which is collective and immortal.

  George Orwell

  Mistake, Believe, Reality

  George Orwell (1961). “1984”

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• Is the English press honest or dishonest? At normal times it is deeply dishonest. All the papers that matter live off their advertisements, and the advertisers exercise an indirect censorship over news. Yet I do not suppose there is one paper in England that can be straightforwardly bribed with hard cash. In the France of the Third Republic all but a very few of the newspapers could notoriously be bought over the counter like so many pounds of cheese.

  George Orwell

  Exercise, Normal, Cheese

  George Orwell (2001). “Orwell's England”, p.353, Penguin UK

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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.

  George Orwell

  Lying, Hands, Egypt

  "Nineteen Eighty-four".

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• If I had to make a list of six books which were to be preserved when all others were destroyed, I would certainly put Gulliver's Travels among them.

  George Orwell

  Book, Gulliver, Lists

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.311, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• To talk, simply to talk! It sounds so little, and how much it is! When you have existed to the brink of middle age in bitter loneliness, among people to whom your true opinion on every subject on earth is blasphemy, the need to talk is the greatest of all needs.

  George Orwell

  Loneliness, People, Age

  George Orwell (1974). “Burmese Days”, p.117, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals.

  George Orwell

  Love, Loyalty, Essence

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.357, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• A family with the wrong members in control; that, perhaps, is as near as one can come to describing England in a phrase.

  George Orwell

  Family, Insulting, Phrases

  The Lion and the Unicorn (1941) pt. 1 "England Your England"

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• To a surprising extent the war-lords in shining armour, the apostles of martial virtues, tend not to die fighting when time comes. History is full of ignominious getaways by the great and famous.

  George Orwell

  Military, War, Fighting

  George Orwell (1998). “Two wasted years, 1943”, Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd

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

  George Orwell

  Art, Hands, Propaganda

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• 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

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• The inflated style is itself a kind of euphemism. A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.

  George Orwell

  Latin, Fall, Political Language

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.282, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• For weeks past he had been making ready for this moment, and it had never crossed his mind that anything would be needed except courage. The actual writing would be easy. All he had to do was to transfer to paper the interminable restless monologue that had been running inside his head, literally for years.

  George Orwell

  Running, Writing, Past

  George Orwell (1976). “The Penguin complete novels of George Orwell”

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• In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion; the more intelligent, the less sane.

  George Orwell

  Intelligent, Understanding, Delusion

  George Orwell (1961). “1984”

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• For a creative writer possession of the 'truth' is less important than emotional sincerity.

  George Orwell

  Love, Writing, Heart

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.134, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Contrary to popular belief, the past was not more eventful than the present. If it seems so it is because when you look backward things that happened years apart are telescoped together, and because very few of your memories come to you genuinely virgin.

  George Orwell

  Memories, Past, Years

  1940 Inside theWhale,'My Country Right or Left'.

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