George Orwell

“What he realised, and more clearly as time went on, was that money-worship has been elevated into a religion. Perhaps it is the only real religion-the only felt religion-that is left to us....”

“At present nothing is possible except to extend the area of sanity little by little. We cannot act collectively. We can only spread our knowledge outwards from individual to individual, gene...”

“But the world itself is only a speck of dust. And man is tiny--helpless! How long has he been in existence? For millions of years the earth was uninhabited.' 'Nonsense. The earth is as old a...”

“There are books that one reads over and over again, books that become part of the furniture of one’s mind and alter one’s whole attitude to life, books that one dips into but never reads thr...”

“And if our book consumption remains as low as it has been, at least let us admit that it is because reading is a less exciting pastime than going to the dogs, the pictures or the pub, and no...”

“A plongeur is a slave, and a wasted slave, doing stupid and largely unnecessary work. He is kept at work, ultimately, because of a vague feeling that he would be dangerous if he had leisure....”

“If you hate violence and don't believe in politics, the only major remedy remaining is education.”

“He said that the education of the young was more important than anything that could be done for those who are already grown up.”

“Happiness can exist only in acceptance.”

“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”

“To walk through the ruined cities of Germany is to feel an actual doubt about the continuity of civilization.”

“No advance in wealth, no softening of manners, no reform or revolution has ever brought human equality a millimeter nearer.”

“As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.”

“Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.”

“The Catholic and the Communist are alike in assuming that an opponent cannot be both honest and intelligent.”

“No one can look back on his schooldays and say with truth that they were altogether unhappy.”

“Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

“If you have embraced a creed which appears to be free from the ordinary dirtiness of politics - a creed from which you yourself cannot expect to draw any material advantage - surely that pro...”

“Many people genuinely do not want to be saints, and it is probable that some who achieve or aspire to sainthood have never felt much temptation to be human beings.”

“One can love a child, perhaps, more deeply than one can love another adult, but it is rash to assume that the child feels any love in return.”