WIST

It is not merely that “power corrupts”; so also do the ways of attaining power.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Arnold Koestler” (1946)

Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dali,” opening words (1944)

All art is propaganda. … On the other hand, not all propaganda is art.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Charles Dickens” (1940)

A thing is funny when — in some way that is not actually offensive or frightening — it upsets the established order. Every joke is a tiny revolution. … Whatever destroys dignity and brings down the mighty from their seats, preferably with a bump, is funny.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Funny, But Not Vulgar” (Dec 1944)

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

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“In Front of Your Nose,” Tribune (22 Mar. 1946)

History consists of a series of swindles, in which the masses are first lured into revolt by the promise of Utopia, and then, when they have done their job, enslaved over again by the new masters.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“James Burnham and the Managerial Revolution” (May 1946)
Summarizing Burnham's view of history.

Power-worship blurs political judgment because it leads almost unavoidably to the belief that present trends will continue. Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem invincible.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“James Burnham and the Managerial Revolution” (May 1946)

There are families in which the father will say to his child, “You’ll get a thick ear if you do that again,” while the mother, her eyes brimming over with tears, will take the child to her arms and murmur lovingly, “Now, darling, is it kind to Mummy to do that?” And who would maintain that the second method is less tyrannous than the first?

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool” (1947)

We have become too civilized to grasp the obvious. For the truth is very simple. To survive you often have to fight, and to fight you have to dirty yourself. War is evil, and it is often the lesser evil. Those who take the sword perish by the sword, and those who don’t take the sword perish by smelly diseases.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Looking Back on the Spanish War” (1943)
Source essay

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 or tens of millions of people can be confidently labeled “good” or “bad.” But secondly … I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Notes on Nationalism” (May 1945)

Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. … By “patriotism” I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force upon other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Notes on Nationalism” (May 1945)

All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage — torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians — which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by “our” side. 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 (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Notes on Nationalism” (May 1945)

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

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Notes on Nationalism” Polemic, (Oct. 1945)
Source essay. Commonly misquoted as "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." This is not found in Orwell's works, but was a paraphrase of this and other Orwell writings by Richard Grenier, "Perils of Passive Sex," Washington Times (6 Apr 1973). See here for more information.

In our age there is no such thing as “keeping out of politics.” All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Politics and the English Language” (Apr 1946)

Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Politics and the English Language,” Horizon, (Apr. 1946)
Source article

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Politics and the English Language,” Horizon, (Apr. 1946)
Source article

He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Shooting an Elephant” (1936)

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

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“The Art of Donald McGill,” Horizon, London (Sep 1941)

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

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“The Art of of Donald McGill” (1941)
http://www.george-orwell.org/The_Art_of_Donald_McGill/0.html

The Catholic and the Communist are alike in assuming that an opponent cannot be both honest and intelligent. Each of them tacitly claims that “the truth” has already been revealed, and that the heretic, if he is not simply a fool, is secretly aware of “the truth” and merely resists it out of selfish motives.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“The Prevention of Literature” (Jan 1946)

If there is a wrong thing to do, it will be done, infallibly.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“War-time Diary” (18 May 1941)
See Murphy's Law.

Power-worship blurs political judgement because it leads, almost unavoidably, to the belief that present trends will continue.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
(1946)

If large numbers of people believe in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech even if the law forbids it. But if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
(Attributed)

The secret of a successful restaurant is sharp knives.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
(Attributed)

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE
EQUAL THAN OTHERS

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Animal Farm, ch. 10 (1946)

Four legs good, two legs bad.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Animal Farm, ch. 3 (1945)

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Animal Farm, Unpublished Preface (1945)
The original essay was written in 1945 as an introduction to the book, but was left unpublished  It was finally published as "The Freedom of the Press" in New York Times Magazine (8 Oct 1972).

He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbeleive in God as personally dislike Him).

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Down and Out in Paris and London, ch. 30 (1933)

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Nineteen Eighty-Four, I.7 (1949)

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part I, ch. 1 (1949)

Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you insane. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

“How can I help it?” he blubbered. “How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four.”

“Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.”

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

Orthodoxy means not thinking — not needing to think. Orthdoxy is unconsciousness.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1.5 (1949)

There will be no loyalty, except loyalty toward the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. … Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Nineteen Eighty-Four, 3.3 (1949)

Power is power over human beings. Over the body — but, above all, over the mind.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Nineteen Eighty-Four, 3.3 (1949)

Will you understand, Winston, that no one whom we bring to this place ever leaves our hands uncured? We are not interested in those stupid crimes you have committed. The Party is not interested in the overt act: the thought is all we care about. We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part 3, ch. 4 (1949)

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

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Review of A Coat of Many Colours: Occasional Essays by Herbert Read, Poetry Quarterly (Winter 1945)

Most books are propaganda, direct or indirect.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Review of The Civil War in Spain by F. Jellinek (8 Jul 1938)