George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist, and journalist who is best known for his novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. He became popular for his keen insights on totalitarianism, political oppression, and the abuse of power. Here are the best George Orwell quotes on freedom, truth, politics, power, and money that will inspire you to stand up for the right.
Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name, George Orwell, was a renowned English writer of the 20th century who transformed literature with his powerful thoughts and sharp observations.
His novels Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) have become timeless classics. These books explore themes of totalitarianism, political corruption, and the dangers of uncontrolled power.
Orwell’s non-fiction works, including Politics and the English Language and Shooting an Elephant, are a few of his critically respected essays on politics, society, and culture of his time.
His works are so influential in popular and political culture that the term “Orwellian” is now commonly used to describe totalitarian and authoritarian social practices.
George Orwell was a man of strong opinions who never feared in expressing his views on challenging topics. His body of work evidently shows his unwavering commitment to truth and social justice.
He will not only be remembered as a remarkable journalist and writer but also for his profound contributions to the field of fiction and political commentary.
Here are the most famous George Orwell quotes that will inspire you to face challenges head on.
Top 10 George Orwell Quotes
- “Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.” — George Orwell
George Orwell Quotes - “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell
Quotes By George Orwell - “However much you deny the truth, the truth goes on existing.” — George Orwell
Quotes From George Orwell - “Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.” — George Orwell
George Orwell Famous Quotes - “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.” — George Orwell
George Orwell 1984 Quotes - “We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.” — George Orwell
Best George Orwell Quotes - “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” — George Orwell
George Orwell Animal Farm Quotes - “The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” — George Orwell
- “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” — George Orwell
- “If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.” — George Orwell
Best Quotes By George Orwell
- “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing.” — George Orwell
- “The people will believe what the media tells them they believe.” — George Orwell
- “The best books… are those that tell you what you know already.” — George Orwell
- “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” — George Orwell
- “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.” — George Orwell
- “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” — George Orwell
- “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” — George Orwell
- “This is the inevitable fate of the sentimentalist. All his opinions change into their opposites at the first brush of reality.” — George Orwell
- “It is this fear of a supposedly dangerous mob that makes nearly all intelligent people conservative in their opinions.” — George Orwell
- “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” — George Orwell
Famous George Orwell Quotes
- “In the face of pain there are no heroes.” — George Orwell
- “He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.” — George Orwell
- “Free speech is my right to say what you don’t want to hear.” — George Orwell
- “The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.” — George Orwell
- “On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.” — George Orwell
- “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” — George Orwell
- “The distinguishing mark of man is the hand, the instrument with which he does all his mischief.” — George Orwell
- “If you can feel that staying human is worthwhile, even when it can’t have any result whatever, you’ve beaten them.” — George Orwell
- “Above all, there was a belief in the revolution and the future, a feeling of having suddenly emerged into an era of equality and freedom.” — George Orwell
- “It’s the one thing they can’t do. They can make you say anything — anything — but they can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you.” — George Orwell
Inspirational George Orwell Quotes
- “Power is not a means; it is an end.” — George Orwell
- “Happiness can exist only in acceptance.” — George Orwell
- “We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.” — George Orwell
- “It’s frightful that people who are so ignorant should have so much influence.” — George Orwell
- “Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.” — George Orwell
- “There are occasions when it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all.” — George Orwell
- “If you loved someone, you loved him, and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love.” — George Orwell
- “All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.” — George Orwell
- “There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.” — George Orwell
- “Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.” — George Orwell
Top George Orwell Quotes
- “Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one.” — George Orwell
- “Gambling, beer and football filled the horizons of their minds.” — George Orwell
- “Within certain limits, it is actually true that the less money you have, the less you worry.” — George Orwell
- “I consider that willingness to criticize Russia and Stalin is the test of intellectual honesty.” — George Orwell
- “In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.” — George Orwell
- “The choice for mankind lay between freedom and happiness… for the great bulk of mankind, happiness was better.” — George Orwell
- “I enjoy talking to you. Your mind appeals to me. It resembles my own mind except that you happen to be insane.” — George Orwell
- “If people cannot write well. they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.” — George Orwell
- “I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued.” — George Orwell
- “In our age, there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues are political issues, & politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred & schizophrenia.” — George Orwell
Conclusion
What are your favorite George Orwell quotes and sayings listed above? If there is a quote that we’ve missed then let us know in the comments section what your thoughts are.
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