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Quotes from George Orwell's '1984' that are relevant even today

TNN | Last updated on - Jun 25, 2021, 12:35 IST

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George Orwell

George Orwell displays deep political insights in simply written stories. He lived through two World Wars and wrote '1984' between them. Published in 1949, the book is a dystopian novel that highlights how government surveillance, propaganda and war can become a reality. Here are some quotes from the book that have relevance even today.

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On reality

“Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.”

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On perception

“If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable - what then?”

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On thinking broadly

“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”

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On the truth of lunatics

“Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one.”

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On the power of words

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

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On the temptation of power

“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.”

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On the value of love

“If you loved someone, you loved him, and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love.”

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On true power

“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.”

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On good books

“The best books... are those that tell you what you know already.”

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On the power of narrative

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

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