At the time I could not see beyond the moral dilemma that is presented to the weak in a world governed by the strong: Break the rules or perish.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]

Essay (1948-06), “‘Such, Such Were the Joys …’,” Partisan Review (1952-09)
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This autobiographical essay was drafted around 1939, revised around 1946, and then completed in May or June of 1948. Collected in Such, Such Were the Joys, essay 8 (1953), though the full, unredacted version was not published until 2000.