There is no test of literary merit except survival, which is itself an index to majority opinion. George Orwell More Quotes by George Orwell More Quotes From George Orwell War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it. George Orwell moneywarcountry Threats to freedom of speech, writing and action, though often trivial in isolation, are cumulative in their effect and, unless checked, lead to a general disrespect for the rights of the citizen. George Orwell freedomrightswriting A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud. George Orwell objective-truthsucceedclass Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. George Orwell truthwittypeace Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness. George Orwell happyhappinesslife Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible. George Orwell corrupt-powerachievementwinning If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever. George Orwell futurefreedomtime The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians. George Orwell leftiesdivisionreal In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible... Thus, political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging, and sheer cloudy vagueness... Political language [is] designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable. George Orwell political-languagewritinglying One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship. George Orwell revolutiondoeorder All rulers in all ages have tried to impose a false view of the world upon their followers. George Orwell followersageviews 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. George Orwell showsbelievefacts The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is murder. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me? George Orwell oppressionterrorismmurder There is no swifter route to the corruption of thought than through the corruption of language George Orwell routescorruptionlanguage The masses never revolt of their own accord, and they never revolt merely because they are oppressed. Indeed, so long as they are not permitted to have standards of comparison, they never even become aware that they are oppressed. George Orwell standardsmasslong Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. George Orwell dreamtimepeace When I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ask myself which side I am on. George Orwell fleshbloodenemy 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 atrocities-committedpolitical-languagepeace Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress toward more pain. George Orwell our-worldpainstupid 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 persistencefatherson
