Until they became conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious." (Orwell, "1984")

Progress is not an illusion, it happens, but it is slow and invariably disappointing.

All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lies a mystery. Writing a book is a long, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.

If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- forever.

For a creative writer possession of the truth is less important than emotional sincerity.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

I sometimes think that the price of liberty is not so much eternal vigilance as eternal dirt.

To a surprising extent the war-lords in shining armor, the apostles of the martial virtues, tend not to die fighting when the time comes. History is full of ignominious getaways by the great and famous.

Language ought to be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.

But the thing that I saw in your face no power can disinherit: No bomb that ever burst shatters the crystal spirit.