George Orwell (1903-1950)

Quotes

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

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

• Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.

• 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.

• For a creative writer possession of the 'truth'' is less important than emotional sincerity.

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

• During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

• Happiness can exist only in acceptance.

• When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, 'I am going to produce a work of art.' I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing.

• Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.

• To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.