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George Orwell Quotes
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473 Quotes on Love, Truth, Control, Language, and Challenging Societal Norms

Immerse yourself in the profound wisdom of George Orwell, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. From love and control to truth and language, explore his timeless quotes that challenge societal norms and delve into the complexities of human nature.

George Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair, was an English writer known for his powerful and insightful works that critiqued social and political systems. He used lucid prose and allegory to convey his opposition to totalitarianism and support for democratic socialism. Orwell was a versatile writer, producing literary criticism, poetry, fiction, and polemical journalism. His most famous works include the allegorical novella Animal Farm and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Additionally, his non-fiction works such as The Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia are highly esteemed for their documentation of working-class life and experiences in the Spanish Civil War.

Born in India but raised and educated in England, Orwell had a varied career before establishing himself as a writer. He served as an Imperial policeman in Burma before returning to England where he began writing under the name George Orwell. Throughout his life, he worked various jobs including teaching and bookselling while also contributing occasional pieces of journalism. By the late 1920s, his writing gained recognition with the publication of his first books. Injured during the Spanish Civil War, he struggled with ill health upon returning to England. During World War II, Orwell worked as a journalist and later at the BBC from 1941 to 1943. Animal Farm's release in 1945 brought him widespread fame shortly before his death. As one of Britain's greatest writers since 1945, George Orwell continues to have a significant impact on popular culture and language through terms such as "Orwellian" which describes oppressive social practices found in his works like "Big Brother," "Thought Police," and "Newspeak."

✵ 25. June 1903 – 21. January 1950
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George Orwell: 473   quotes 1079   likes

George Orwell Quotes

“[...] there is no real Jewish “problem” in England. The Jews are not numerous or powerful enough, and it is only in what are loosely called “intellectual circles” that they have any noticeable influence.”

George Orwell

Source: Antisemitism in Britain (1945)

Problem

“Having lived in an oriental country I have developed a certain indifference to miracles, and I well know that having delusions, or even being an outright lunatic, is quite compatible with what is loosely called genius.”

George Orwell

Source: "As I Please," Tribune (3 March 1944)
http://alexpeak.com/twr/orwell/quotes/

Country , Indifference

“Having defeated your enemy you have to choose (unless you want another war within a generation) between exterminating him and treating him generously.”

George Orwell

Source: "As I Please," Tribune, (24 December 1943)

War

“As I was brought up in this tradition myself I can recognise it under strange disguises, and also sympathise with it, for even at its stupidest and most sentimental it is a comelier thing than the shallow self-righteousness of the left-wing intelligentsia.”

George Orwell

From a review of Malcolm Muggeridge's The Thirties, in New English Weekly (25 April 1940)
Context: It is all very well to be "advanced" and "enlightened," to snigger at Colonel Blimp and proclaim your emancipation from all traditional loyalties, but a time comes when the sand of the desert is sodden red and what have I done for thee, England, my England? As I was brought up in this tradition myself I can recognise it under strange disguises, and also sympathise with it, for even at its stupidest and most sentimental it is a comelier thing than the shallow self-righteousness of the left-wing intelligentsia.

“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.”

George Orwell

Attributed to Orwell by John H. Bunzel, president of San Jose State University, as reported in Phyllis Schlafly, The Power of the Positive Woman (1977), p. 151; but not found in Orwell's works or in reports contemporaneous with his life. Possibly a paraphrase of Orwell's description of the rationale behind Newspeak in 1984.
Disputed

People , Thinking

“If you kept the small rules, you could break the big ones.”

George Orwell book 1984

Source: 1984

“[...]I should say that it is a good rule of thumb never to mention religion if you can possibly avoid it.”

George Orwell

Letter to Humphry House (11 April 1940). The Collected Essays, Journalism & Letters, George Orwell: An Age Like This, 1920–1940, Editors: Sonia Orwell, Ian Angus.  p. 530 http://books.google.com/books?id=0j2qODEJkdoC&pg=PA530#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Religion

“In my small way I have been fighting for years against the systematic faking of history which now goes on.”

George Orwell

Letter to Frank Barber (15 December 1944)
The Collected Essays, Journalism & Letters, George Orwell: As I Please, 1943-1945, Editors: Sonia Orwell, Ian Angus.  p.  292.

Fight , Way , History