6 Posts found for Author: George Orwell

The American tendency [is] to admire size for its own sake and to feel that success constitutes justification.

Author: George Orwell | Subjects: America, International

It is difficult to think of any politician who has lived to be eighty and still been regarded as a success. What we call a ‘great’ statesman normally means one who dies before his policy has had time to take effect. If Cromwell had lived a few years longer he would probably have fallen from power, in which case we should now regard him as … [ Read more ]

Author: George Orwell | Subjects: History, Politics & Public Policy

In general, one is only right when either wish or fear coincides with reality. If one recognizes this, one cannot, of course, get rid of one’s subjective feelings, but one can to some extent insulate them from one’s thinking and make predictions cold-bloodedly, by the book of arithmetic.

Author: George Orwell | Subjects: Concepts, Desires, Fear, Intelligence | Knowledge, Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior

We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually … [ Read more ]

Author: George Orwell | Subjects: Concepts, Intelligence | Knowledge, Psychology | Behavior, Thought | Inquiry

Society is of its nature oligarchical, and the power of the oligarchy always rests upon force and fraud. [James] Burnham does not deny that ‘good’ motives may operate in private life, but he maintains that politics consists of the struggle for power, and nothing else. All historical changes finally boil down to the replacement of one ruling class by another. All talk about democracy, liberty, … [ Read more ]

Author: George Orwell | Source: Polemic (May1946) | Subjects: Excerpts, History, Politics & Public Policy

We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.

Author: George Orwell | Subject: Freedom | Liberty