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Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.

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The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims one turns as if it were instinctivel...more

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...every human being is doomed to die, which is the greatest of all failures.

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Good prose should be transparent, like a window pane.

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I do not wish to comment on the work; if it does not speak for itself, it is a failure.

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O’Brien: How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?Winston: By making him suffer.O’Brien: Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience is no...more

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What can the England of 1940 have in common with the England of 1840? But then, what have you in common with the child of five whose photograph your m...more

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I do not think one can assess a writer’s motives without knowing something of his early development. His subject matter will be determined by the age ...more

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Good writing is like a windowpane.

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If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.

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Good novels are not written by orthodoxy-sniffers, nor by people who are conscience-stricken about their own orthodoxy. Good novels are written by peo...more

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Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives but on balance life is suffering and only the very sound or the very foolish imagine otherwis...more

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I felt as if I was the only person awake in a city of sleepwalkers. That's an illusion, of course. When you walk through a crowd of strangers it's nex...more

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The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is murder. The ob...more

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Suddenly, like a lump of submerged wreckage breaking the surface of water, the thought burst into his mind: 'It doesn't really happen. We imagine it. ...more