1984

by George Orwell

The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in.

At those moments his secret loathing of Big Brother changed into adoration, and Big Brother seemed to tower up, an invincible, fearless protector, standing like a rock against the hordes of Asia, and Goldstein, in spite of his isolation, his helplessness, and the doubt that hung about his very existence, seemed like some sinister enchanter, capable by the mere power of his voice of wrecking the structure of civilization.

Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party.

How could you make appeal to the future when not a trace of you, not even an anonymous word scribbled on a piece of paper, could physically survive?

He was out in the light and air while they were being sucked down to death, and they were down there because he was up here.

The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.

“Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”

In the end the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words—in reality, only one word.

There was a vast amount of criminality in London, a whole world-within-a-world of thieves, bandits, prostitutes, drug peddlers, and racketeers of every description; but since it all happened among the proles themselves, it was of no importance.

I always look cheerful and I never shirk anything. Always yell with the crowd, that’s what I say. It’s the only way to be safe.”

They were not loyal to a party or a country or an idea, they were loyal to one another. For the first time in his life he did not despise the proles or think of them merely as an inert force which would one day spring to life and regenerate the world.

“The past is more important,” agreed O’Brien gravely.

In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.

For long periods the High seem to be securely in power, but sooner or later there always comes a moment when they lose either their belief in themselves, or their capacity to govern efficiently, or both. They are then overthrown by the Middle, who enlist the Low on their side by pretending to them that they are fighting for liberty and justice.

Oceanic society rests ultimately on the belief that Big Brother is omnipotent and that the Party is infallible.

God and their Church? Perhaps

No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future there will be no wives and no friends.

Only surrender, and everything else followed. It was like swimming against a current that swept you backwards however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it.