1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four) with Quoates

by George Orwell

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

The Ministry of Love was the really frightening one. There were no windows in it at all.

Winston had never been able to feel sure—even after this morning’s flash of the eyes it was still impossible to be sure whether O’Brien was a friend or an enemy.

Now he had recognized himself as a dead man it became important to stay alive as long as possible.

But where did that knowledge exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated. And 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. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’

For example, the Ministry of Plenty’s forecast had estimated the output of boots for the quarter at 145 million pairs. The actual output was given as sixty-two millions. Winston, however, in rewriting the forecast, marked the figure down to fifty-seven millions, so as to allow for the usual claim that the quota had been overfulfilled. In any case, sixty-two millions was no nearer the truth than fifty- seven millions, or than 145 millions. Very likely no boots had been produced at all.

And what he wanted, more even than to be loved, was to break down that wall of virtue, even if it were only once in his whole life. The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion. Desire was thoughtcrime.

To keep your face expressionless was not difficult, and even your breathing could be controlled, with an effort: but you could not control the beating of your heart, and the telescreen was quite delicate enough to pick it up.