Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.

He who controls the past controls the future.

Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.

No doubt alcohol, tobacco, and so forth, are things that a saint must avoid, but sainthood is a thing that human beings must avoid.

The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact.

Orthodoxy means not thinking - not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.

The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.

One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish a dictatorship.

In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion: the more intelligent, the less sane.