The 70 Best Phrases Of George Orwell, Author Of “Animal Farm”
George Orwell (1903 – 1950) was a brilliant British dystopian writer, born in London, especially famous for two of his works: “1984” and “Animal Farm.”
In his books, George Orwell – who was actually a pseudonym and his real name was Eric Arthur Blair – transports us to a world in conflict. It is not strange, since he lived through turbulent times, opposing British imperialism and the Italian and German totalitarianisms of the 20th century.
His novels critical of the status quo of his time are a true object of study for sociologists and social psychologists of our time. His work, although forged in the first half of the 20th century, has a totally contemporary reading.
Through this article Let’s know the best phrases of George Orwell : These are famous quotes that reveal the thoughts and values of this global journalist.
1. The important thing is not to stay alive but to stay human.
Vitalism without limits.
2. If the leader says of such an event this did not happen, then it did not happen. If he says that two and two are five, then two and two are five. This prospect worries me much more than the bombs.
Extract from his famous work 1984.
3. I would not want to see the USSR destroyed and I think that it must be defended if necessary. But I want people to be disillusioned with it and understand that they must build their own socialist movement without Russian interference.
A pessimistic view of the protection of the Soviet Union.
4. War is war. The only good human being is the one who has died.
Famous quote by George Orwell from another of his best-known works: Animal Farm.
5. If he who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past?
A reflection that leaves a big question in the air.
6. Until they are aware of their strength, they will not rebel, and until after they have revealed themselves, they will not be aware. That’s the problem.
About the docility of the masses, and why in many cases they do not wake up despite being victims of oppression.
7. Freedom means freedom to say that two plus two equals four. If that is admitted, everything else is added.
The obvious must also be able to be told. And the not so obvious, by extension.
8. Seeing what is in front of our eyes requires constant effort.
Because it is omnipresent, sometimes the obvious is invisible to our eyes.
9. What is characteristic of today’s life is not insecurity and cruelty, but restlessness and poverty.
About the miseries of the time in which he lived, marked by war conflicts and hardships.
10. If freedom means anything, it will be, above all, the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
Probably the most remembered George Orwell phrase.
11. In times of universal deception, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
His journalistic facet attests to this maxim about freedom of expression.
12. Power lies in inflicting pain and humiliation.
Any form of power tends to exert a framework of repression and indoctrination, according to Orwell.
12. It is unlikely that Humanity can safeguard civilization unless it can evolve a system of good and evil that is independent of heaven and hell.
About religion and the ethical development essential for the survival of our societies.
13. Language should be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.
A unique vision on communication.
14. There is no crime, absolutely none, that cannot be tolerated when “our” side commits it.
The end cannot justify the means, not even when you believe in the final purpose of certain actions.
15. The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has an extraordinary ability not to even hear about them.
16. All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
Extract from Animal Farm.
17. A spicy joke is a kind of mental rebellion.
Especially in a time of certain repression regarding intimate matters.
18. Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.
In love, perhaps we look for a protective look, and not so much to experience great emotions and feelings.
19. The party wants to have power for the love of power itself.
Political reflection in one of George Orwell’s most memorable phrases.
20. Everything happens in the mind and only what happens there has a reality.
We are slaves to our own thoughts and reflections.
21. Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in the mind simultaneously, and accepting both.
A concept of cognitive psychology that was described in this way by the great Orwell.
22. Power is not a means; It is an end in itself.
Unfortunately, power only serves to contain itself.
23. The invention of the printing press made the management of information much easier.
A somewhat obvious reflection on Gutenberg’s invention.
24. The quickest way to end a war is to lose it.
Giving up is always the bottom line.
25. When you loved someone, you loved them for themselves, and if there was nothing else to give them, you could always give them love.
Magnificent thought about true love, whatever the circumstances.
26. They can force you to say anything, but there is no way they will make you believe it. They can never enter inside you.
About dignity and beliefs.
27. It is impossible to found a civilization on fear, hatred and cruelty. It wouldn’t last.
Repression’s hours are numbered: there is no human being who does not rebel at one time or another.
28. We have fallen so low that the reformulation of the obvious is the first obligation of an intelligent man.
Orwell’s phrase especially understandable given the context of totalitarianism that prevailed in Europe.
29. Nothing would change as long as power remained in the hands of a privileged minority.
Oligarchies always look out for their own short-term good.
30. Sanity does not depend on statistics.
Extract from 1984.
31. All the war propaganda, all the shouting and lies and hatred, invariably come from people who are not fighting.
Those who pull the strings of war are comfortably seated in golden chairs.
32. Every year there will be fewer words, so the radius of action of consciousness will be smaller and smaller.
Our language is our world, as the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein would say.
33. Even when I was young I had noticed that no newspaper ever tells faithfully how things happen.
Objectivity is lost when the editorial line depends on the criteria of the head of the media.
34. The more a society deviates from the truth, the more it will hate those who proclaim it.
Essential political reflection to stop and think about the design of a society in which lies prevail.
35. Thought corrupts language and language can also corrupt thought.
Thought and language are two concepts that feed off each other.
36. In principle, the purpose of war is to keep society on the brink of famine. War is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its objective is not victory, but to keep the social structure itself intact.
A phrase that summarizes the functioning of most dictatorial governments.
37. In the long run, a hierarchical society would only be possible based on poverty and ignorance.
A phrase that is still valid today.
38. Big Brother is watching you.
The term “Big Brother” has gone down in history as the epitome of authoritarian and invasive governments.
39. In our time there is no such thing as ‘staying out of politics’. All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, nonsense, hatred and schizophrenia.
Politics is present in everything we do and say, regardless of our ideology.
40. Every war, when it occurs or before it occurs, is represented not as a war, but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.
A social and media operation that continues to occur today.
41. Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the goal of life is happiness.
A truly profound quote about the pursuit of happiness.
42. Myths that are believed tend to become true.
Myth, deception and manipulation are constants in Orwell’s work.
43. Nationalism is the hunger for power fueled by self-deception.
Orwell was a great scourge of nationalism during his life.
44. Political language is designed to make lies sound trustworthy and murder respectable; and to give the appearance of solidity to the mere wind.
Some people would find parallels between Orwell’s society and today’s.
45. If the masses began to reflect, they would realize that they would never be able to impose themselves on others and would end up revolting.
A quote that tells us about the power of the majorities.
46. If you want to get an idea of what the future will be like, imagine a boot crushing a human face incessantly.
A truly disconcerting phrase about the future that Orwell imagined.
47. In real life, the anvil always breaks the hammer.
The majority will always defeat the minority.
48. The price of freedom is not eternal vigilance, it is eternal dirt.
One of the main themes of “1984” is freedom and the price to pay for it.
49. A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war. This is the true meaning of the Party’s slogan: war is peace.
One of the most remembered passages from “1984”.
50. There is only one way to make money writing: marry your editor’s daughter.
One of his most humorous phrases.
51. Is it not then crystal clear, comrades, that all the evils of animals come from the tyranny of human beings?
Social conflicts and class struggle were recurring themes in his work.
52. First of all, a warning to left-wing English journalists and intellectuals in general: remember that dishonesty and cowardice always pay.
Orwell was very critical of journalism and intellectuality throughout his life.
53. There will be no laughter; there will be no art; neither literature nor science; There will only be ambition for power, every day in a more subtle way.
An image of the future that is truly disturbing to us.
54. Serious sport is war without shooting.
War is undoubtedly another of the topics most addressed by George Orwell.
55. In the context of an important issue, there are always aspects that no one wants to discuss.
A phrase that many of us will agree with.
56. Man does not serve the interests of any being except his own.
Orwell reflected extensively on human nature and free will.
57. It is not about whether war is real or not, victory is not possible.
The horror of war was widely described in Orwell’s work.
58. Eliminate only Man and the product of our work will belong to us.
Throughout his career, Orwell imagined future worlds that have gone down in the history of science fiction.
59. As far as possible, human beings want to be good, but not too good or all the time.
A very particular way of conceiving human nature.
60. Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He doesn’t give milk, he doesn’t lay eggs, he’s too weak to pull the plow, he can’t run fast enough to catch rabbits. And yet, he is lord of all animals.
A reflection that will make us think about human beings and their journey through the world.
61. Knowing and not knowing, being aware of what is really true while telling carefully crafted lies.
Orwell made a portrait of a society not so far from ours.
62. A dictatorship is not established to safeguard a revolution; The revolution is made to establish a dictatorship.
Some of his sentences were truly scathing criticisms of various authoritarian regimes.
63. Patriotism is normally stronger than class hatred and always stronger than internationalism.
Orwell had extensive training in the politics and political regimes of his time.
64. War is peace. Freedom is Slavery. The ignorance is the force.
One of the most remembered slogans that we find in his work “1984”.
65. Animal instinct; the simple and undifferentiated desire. That was the force that would destroy the party.
Human and animal nature were some of the constants that obsessed him throughout his career.
66. As long as humans remain humans, life and death will be the same thing.
Orwell had some truly negative conceptions.
67. This is the most refined subtlety of the system: consciously inducing unconsciousness, and then becoming unconscious so as not to recognize that an act of autosuggestion had been generated.
Some social functionings that Orwell talks about can remind us of the current era.
68. I understand HOW, I don’t understand WHY.
Two questions that are important to know in life.
69. Nothing belonged to the individual, except for a few cubic centimeters inside his skull.
A passage from “1984” that can become premonitory.
70. The characteristic that distinguishes man is the “hand”, a tool with which he commits all his crimes.
Human nature, freedom, truth, goodness and many other universal themes are what Orwell deals with in his literary work.
