George Orwell
@george-orwell.bsky.social
Daily wisdom from Victory Mansions, Manor Farm, Catalonia and Wigan.
"Political or military commentators, like astrologers, can survive almost any mistake, because their more devoted followers do not look to them for an appraisal of the facts but for the stimulation of nationalistic loyalties." Notes on Nationalism
January 29, 2025 at 8:24 PM
"Political or military commentators, like astrologers, can survive almost any mistake, because their more devoted followers do not look to them for an appraisal of the facts but for the stimulation of nationalistic loyalties." Notes on Nationalism
"There are occasions when it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all." Homage to Catalonia
January 15, 2025 at 11:48 PM
"There are occasions when it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all." Homage to Catalonia
"Looking back through my work, I see that it is invariably where I lacked a political purpose that I wrote lifeless books and was betrayed into purple passages, sentences without meaning, decorative adjectives and humbug generally." Why I Write
January 7, 2025 at 10:02 PM
"Looking back through my work, I see that it is invariably where I lacked a political purpose that I wrote lifeless books and was betrayed into purple passages, sentences without meaning, decorative adjectives and humbug generally." Why I Write
"Patriotism has nothing to do with Conservatism. It is actually the opposite of Conservatism, since it is a devotion to something that is always changing and yet is felt to be mystically the same. It is the bridge between the future and the past." The Lion and the Unicorn
January 7, 2025 at 4:55 PM
"Patriotism has nothing to do with Conservatism. It is actually the opposite of Conservatism, since it is a devotion to something that is always changing and yet is felt to be mystically the same. It is the bridge between the future and the past." The Lion and the Unicorn
"Public-school [elite private] education is partly a training in class prejudice and partly a sort of tax that the middle classes pay to the upper class in return for the right to enter certain professions." The Lion and the Unicorn (P.S. I strongly recommend Robert Verkaik's excellent book)
January 6, 2025 at 9:55 PM
"Public-school [elite private] education is partly a training in class prejudice and partly a sort of tax that the middle classes pay to the upper class in return for the right to enter certain professions." The Lion and the Unicorn (P.S. I strongly recommend Robert Verkaik's excellent book)
"Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest, that the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. It is all lies. Man serves the interests of no creature except himself." - Animal Farm
December 25, 2024 at 10:19 AM
"Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest, that the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. It is all lies. Man serves the interests of no creature except himself." - Animal Farm
"A deliberately austere Christmas would be an absurdity. The whole point of Christmas is that it is a debauch - as it was probably long before the birth of Christ was arbitrarily fixed at that date." As I Please (Dec 20th, 1946)
December 24, 2024 at 5:24 PM
"A deliberately austere Christmas would be an absurdity. The whole point of Christmas is that it is a debauch - as it was probably long before the birth of Christ was arbitrarily fixed at that date." As I Please (Dec 20th, 1946)
"Once in power, the same dilemma would always have faced it [the Labour party]: carry out your promise, and risk revolt, or continue with the same policy as the Conservatives, and stop talking about Socialism." The Lion and the Unicorn
December 23, 2024 at 9:33 AM
"Once in power, the same dilemma would always have faced it [the Labour party]: carry out your promise, and risk revolt, or continue with the same policy as the Conservatives, and stop talking about Socialism." The Lion and the Unicorn
"Almost entirely we are governed by the rich, and by people who step into positions of command by right of birth. Few if any of these people are consciously treacherous, some of them are not even fools, but as a class they are quite incapable of leading us to victory." The Lion and the Unicorn
December 22, 2024 at 1:09 PM
"Almost entirely we are governed by the rich, and by people who step into positions of command by right of birth. Few if any of these people are consciously treacherous, some of them are not even fools, but as a class they are quite incapable of leading us to victory." The Lion and the Unicorn
The Lion and the Unicorn
December 20, 2024 at 9:43 AM
The Lion and the Unicorn
"[In England] the totalitarian idea that there is no such thing as law, there is only power, has never taken root." The Lion and the Unicorn
December 18, 2024 at 1:00 PM
"[In England] the totalitarian idea that there is no such thing as law, there is only power, has never taken root." The Lion and the Unicorn
"So often like this, in lonely places in the forest, he would come upon something - bird, flower, tree - beautiful beyond all words, if there had been a soul with whom to share it. Beauty is meaningless until it is shared." Burmese Days
December 11, 2024 at 11:17 PM
"So often like this, in lonely places in the forest, he would come upon something - bird, flower, tree - beautiful beyond all words, if there had been a soul with whom to share it. Beauty is meaningless until it is shared." Burmese Days
"A dull, decent people, cherishing and fortifying their dullness behind a quarter of a million bayonets." Burmese Days
December 11, 2024 at 10:46 PM
"A dull, decent people, cherishing and fortifying their dullness behind a quarter of a million bayonets." Burmese Days
Homage to Catalonia
December 8, 2024 at 6:09 PM
Homage to Catalonia
“For before you can be sure whether you are genuinely in favour of socialism, you have got to decide whether things at present are tolerable or not tolerable, and you have got to take up a definite attitude on the terribly difficult issue of class.” The Road to Wigan Pier
December 7, 2024 at 6:26 PM
“For before you can be sure whether you are genuinely in favour of socialism, you have got to decide whether things at present are tolerable or not tolerable, and you have got to take up a definite attitude on the terribly difficult issue of class.” The Road to Wigan Pier
“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” 1984
December 7, 2024 at 6:20 PM
“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” 1984
"The masses never revolt of their own accord, and they never revolt merely because they are oppressed. Indeed, so long as they are not permitted to have standards of comparison, they never even become aware that they are oppressed.” 1984
December 5, 2024 at 8:45 PM
"The masses never revolt of their own accord, and they never revolt merely because they are oppressed. Indeed, so long as they are not permitted to have standards of comparison, they never even become aware that they are oppressed.” 1984
"If all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed - if all records told the same tale - then the lie passed into history and became truth." 1984
December 5, 2024 at 6:17 PM
"If all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed - if all records told the same tale - then the lie passed into history and became truth." 1984
“This is the inevitable fate of the sentimentalist. All his opinions change into their opposites at the first brush of reality.” The Road to Wigan Pier
December 2, 2024 at 9:05 PM
“This is the inevitable fate of the sentimentalist. All his opinions change into their opposites at the first brush of reality.” The Road to Wigan Pier
"A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud." The Prevention of Literature
December 1, 2024 at 10:41 PM
"A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud." The Prevention of Literature
"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." 1984
November 30, 2024 at 12:50 PM
"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." 1984
"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." 1984
November 28, 2024 at 6:57 PM
"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." 1984
"At 50, everyone has the face he deserves." Last words in his notebook, 17 April 1949.
November 27, 2024 at 10:52 PM
"At 50, everyone has the face he deserves." Last words in his notebook, 17 April 1949.
"In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible." Politics and the English Language
November 27, 2024 at 10:45 PM
"In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible." Politics and the English Language