George Orwell quotes - page 5

It is fatal to look hungry. It makes people want to kick you. (George Orwell)
Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death. View quote
George Orwell
The whole question of evolution seems less momentous than it did, because, unlike the Victorians, we do not feel that to be descended from animals is degrading to human dignity. View quote
George Orwell
It is a mysterious thing, the loss of faith-as mysterious as faith itself. Like faith, it is ultimately not rooted in logic; it is a change in the climate of the mind. View quote
George Orwell
It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage. View quote
George Orwell
Within any important issue, there are always aspects no one wishes to discuss. View quote
George Orwell
The whole idea of revenge and punishment is a childish day-dream. Properly speaking, there is no such thing as revenge. Revenge is an act which you want to commit when you are powerless and because you are powerless: as soon as the sense of impotence is removed, the desire evaporates also. View quote
George Orwell
Poverty is spiritual halitosis. View quote
George Orwell
Scientific education for the masses will do little good, and probably a lot of harm, if it simply boils down to more physics, more chemistry, more biology, etc to the detriment of literature and history. Its probable effect on the average human being would be to narrow the range of his thoughts and make him more than ever contemptuous of such knowledge as he did not possess. View quote
George Orwell
The urge to shout filthy words at the top of his voice was as strong as ever. View quote
George Orwell
In any form of art designed to appeal to large numbers of people,...[t]he rich man is usually 'bad', and his machinations are invariably frustrated.:; 'Good poor man defeats bad rich man' is an accepted formula. (George Orwell)
But the thought of being a lunatic did not greatly trouble him; the horror was that he might also be wrong. View quote
George Orwell
Since pacifists have more freedom of action in countries where traces of democracy survive, pacifism can act more effectively against democracy than for it. Objectively the pacifist is pro-Nazi. View quote
George Orwell
In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did not need a passport for any country except Russia.:; The European emigrant, if he could scrape together a few pounds for the passage, simply set sail for America or Australia, and when he got there no questions were asked.:; In the eighteenth century it had been quite normal and safe to travel in a country with which your own country was at war. View quote
George Orwell
But you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred. Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act. View quote
George Orwell
All men are enemies. All animals are comrades. View quote
George Orwell
Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. View quote
George Orwell
Anyone who knows of a provable instance of colour discrimination ought always to expose it. View quote
George Orwell
Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one. View quote
George Orwell
An earthquake is such fun when it is over. View quote
George Orwell
How could you communicate with the future? It was impossible. Either the future would resemble the present in which case it would not listen to him, or it would be different from it, and his predicament would be meaningless. (George Orwell)
In a town like London there are always plenty of not quite certifiable lunatics walking the streets, and they tend to gravitate towards bookshops, because a bookshop is one of the few places where you can hang about for a long time without spending any money. View quote
George Orwell
Your worst enemy, he reflected, was your nervous system. At any moment the tension inside you was liable to translate itself into some visible symptom. View quote
George Orwell
Human beings were behaving as human beings and not as cogs in the capitalist machine. View quote
George Orwell
I am struck again by the fact that as soon as a working man gets an official post in the Trade Union or goes into Labour politics, he becomes middle-class whether he will or no. ie. by fighting against the bourgeoisie he becomes a bourgeois. The fact is that you cannot help living in the manner appropriate and developing the ideology appropriate to your income. View quote
George Orwell