George Orwell

The best books . . . are those that tell you what you know already.

Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.

I am afraid of death. You are young, so presumably you're more afraid of it than I am. Obviously we shall put if off as long as we can. But it makes very little difference. So long as human beings stay human, death and life are the same thing.

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

It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.

Political chaos is connected with the decay of language . . . one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end.

In this game that we're playing, we can't win. Some kinds of failure are better than other kinds, that's all.

An 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.

The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right.

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.