George Orwell - Quodid

About

Picture of George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both authoritarian communism and fascism), and support of democratic socialism.

Quotes from George Orwell

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

—George Orwell

wisdom intelligence perspective aging generations

A thousand influences constantly press a working man down into a passive role. He does not act; he is acted upon. He feels himself the slave of mysterious authority and has a firm conviction that “they” will never allow him to do this, that, and the other. Once when I was hop-picking I asked the sweated pickers (they earn something under sixpence an hour) why they did not form a union. I was told immediately that “they” would never allow it. Who were “they”? I asked. Nobody seemed to know, but evidently “they” were omnipotent.

—George Orwell

power poverty powerlessness they

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

writing meaning art criticism

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

—George Orwell

peace violence civil society

The atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun.

—George Orwell

war bombs lies earth sun

Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

—George Orwell

wisdom intelligence perception generations age

To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle.

—George Orwell

knowledge perception vision struggle bias

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

—George Orwell

truth lies deceit revolutionary

We may find in the long run that tinned food is a deadlier weapon than the machine gun.

—George Orwell

health food guns

In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.

—George Orwell

politics speech defense

Throughout recorded time… there have been three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle, and the Low. They have been subdivided in many ways, they have borne countless different names, and their relative numbers, as well as their attitude towards one another, have varied from age to age: but the essential structure of society has never altered. Even after enormous upheavals and seemingly irrevocable changes, the same pattern has always reasserted itself, just as a gyroscope will always return to equilibrium, however far it is pushed one way or the other. The aims of these three groups are entirely irreconcilable.

—George Orwell

history society wealth class division

On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.

—George Orwell

Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

—George Orwell

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.

—George Orwell

Virtue consisted in winning: it consisted in being bigger, stronger, handsomer, richer, more popular, more elegant, more unscrupulous than other people—in dominating them, bullying them, making them suffer pain, making them look foolish, getting the better of them in every way. Life was hierarchical and whatever happened was right. There were the strong, who deserved to win and always did win, and there were the weak, who deserved to lose and always did lose, everlastingly.

—George Orwell

virtue pain winning bullying domination

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