313 quotes
Probably the best nonsense poetry is produced gradually and accidentally, by communities rather than by individuals.
Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there.
The Lion and the Unicorn (1941)
Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power.
Notes on Nationalism (1945)
We've always been at war with Eastasia.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
In The Managerial Revolution, Burnham foretold the rise of three super-states which would be unable to conquer one another and would divide the world between them.
Sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.
Hunger reduces one to an utterly spineless, brainless condition, more like the after-effects of influenza than anything else. It is as though all one's blood had been pumped out and lukewarm water substituted.
Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)
I watched him with some interest, for it was the first time that I had seen a person whose profession was telling lies — unless one counts journalists.
Homage to Catalonia (1938)
It is usual to speak of the Fascist objective as the "beehive state", which does grave injustice to bees. A world of rabbits ruled by stoats would be nearer the mark.
The Road to Wigan Pier (1937)
It was queer how the general spirit seemed to change when you got anywhere near the front line. All or nearly all of the vicious hatred of the political parties evaporated.
Homage to Catalonia (1938)
Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the highbrow periodicals.
Yet one of the marks of antisemitism is an ability to believe stories that could not possibly be true.
Antisemitism in Britain (1945)
In a country like England you can no more be cultured without money than you can join the Cavalry Club.
Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936)
In my small way I have been fighting for years against the systematic faking of history which now goes on.
There are occasions when it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all.
Charles Dickens (1939)
There is no crime, absolutely none, that cannot be condoned when 'our' side commits it.
Notes on Nationalism (1945)
The much-publicized disunity on the Government side was not a main cause of defeat.
Looking Back on the Spanish War (1943)
The outstanding, unmistakable mark of Dickens's writing is the unnecessary detail.
Charles Dickens (1939)
Orthodoxy, of whatever colour, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style.
Politics and the English Language (1946)
[Man] is not likely to salvage civilization unless he can evolve a system of good and evil which is independent of heaven and hell.
As I Please (1943)