313 quotes
Society has always to demand a little more from human beings than it will get in practice.
The Art of Donald McGill (1941)
It is one of the tragedies of the half-educated that they develop late, when they are already committed to some wrong way of life.
Burmese Days (1934)
The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.
All animals are equal — but some animals are more equal than others.
When you have no money your life is one long series of snubs.
Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936)
One's got to change the system, or one changes nothing.
Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936)
It is not possible for any thinking person to live in such a society as our own without wanting to change it.
Why I Joined the Independent Labour Party (1938)
If you live for others, you must live for others, and not as a roundabout way of getting an advantage for yourself.
The only salvation lies in returning to an unplanned economy, free competition, and emphasis on liberty rather than on security.
The important thing is to discover which individuals are honest and which are not, and the usual blanket accusation merely makes this more difficult.
As I Please (1943)
It is almost impossible to think without talking.
As I Please (1943)
Since pacifists have more freedom of action in countries where traces of democracy survive, pacifism can act more effectively against democracy than for it. Objectively the pacifist is pro-Nazi.
One is almost driven to the cynical conclusion that men are only decent when they are powerless.
One of the big failures in human history has been the agelong attempt to stop women painting their faces.
As I Please (1943)
The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.
No one can look back on his schooldays and say with truth that they were altogether unhappy.
There is only one way to make money at writing, and that is to marry a publisher's daughter.
Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)
Anyone who knows of a provable instance of colour discrimination ought always to expose it.
As I Please (1943)
Why is it that one can't borrow from a rich friend and can from a half-starved relative?
Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936)
Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Politics and the English Language (1946)