1984.

Insights from George Orwell’s 1984

“To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone – to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone… - greetings!”

“Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death.”

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

“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”

“Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me…”

“War is peace; Freedom is slavery; Ignorance is strength.”

“The past not only changed, but changed continuously.”

“I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY.”

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”

“Double think means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”

“Men were dying because they would not abandon their true beliefs.”

“Even in the instant of death we cannot permit any deviation.”

“Do not imagine that you will save yourself… Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside you. Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity. You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves.”

“Only the disciplined mind can see reality.”

“…reality is not a external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes.”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of those ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government.”