George Orwell | Real power is achieved

"Real power is achieved when the ruling class controls the material essentials of life, granting and withholding them from the masses as if they were privileges."

George Orwell

George Orwell | Until they become conscious

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

George Orwell

Georg Orwell | What counts is that we don’t betray each other

"It’s not so much staying alive, it’s staying human that’s important. What counts is that we don’t betray each other."

Georg Orwell

George Orwell | horrible features of war

"One of the most horrible features of war is that all the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting."

George Orwell

George Orwell | A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing

"At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to state this or that or the other, but it is "not done"… Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the highbrow periodicals."

George Orwell

George Orwell | These people don’t see that

"These people don’t see that if you encourage totalitarian methods, the time may come when they will be used against you instead of for you."

George Orwell

George Orwell | To keep them in control was not difficult

"Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult."

George Orwell, 1984