Selective Quotes of George Owell

Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.

To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning.

Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?

War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.

The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.