If one harbours anywhere in one's mind a nationalistic loyalty or hatred, certain facts, although in a sense known to be true, are inadmissible.
George OrwellRead
Always eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or bed- no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters in your skull.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the pervasive surveillance in society and the limitations of personal freedom.
George Orwell's quote emphasizes the suffocating nature of constant observation and control in modern society. It suggests that while our environments and actions may be monitored, our thoughts remain the only private domain, illustrating the struggle for autonomy in a world where external forces seek to dominate our lives.
Themes
SurveillanceFreedomThoughtControlSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about privacy rights, this quote can illustrate the feeling of being constantly watched.
More from George Orwell
All quotes →The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
George OrwellRead
Political writing in our time consists almost entirely of prefabricated phrases bolted together like the pieces of a child's Meccano set. It is the unavoidable result of self-censorship. To write in plain, vigorous language one has to think fearlessly, and if one thinks fearlessly one cannot be politically orthodox.
George OrwellRead
Not to expose your true feelings to an adult seems to be instinctive from the age of seven or eight onwards.
George OrwellRead
As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.
George OrwellRead
It is fatal to look hungry. It makes people want to kick you.
George OrwellRead
Similar quotes
Democracy doesn't recognize east or west; democracy is simply people's will. Therefore, I do not acknowledge that there are various models of democracy; there is just democracy itself.
Shirin EbadiRead
For even if the Word in His immeasurable essence united with the nature of man into one person, we do not imagine that He was confined therein. Here is something marvellous: the Son of God descended from heaven in such a way that, without leaving heaven, He willed to be borne in the virgin's womb, to go about the earth, and to hang upon the cross; yet He continuously filled the world even as He had done from the beginning.
John CalvinRead
During a chess tournament a master must envisage himself as a cross between an ascetic monk and a beast of prey.
Alexander AlekhineRead
Who does not in some sort live to others, does not live much to himself.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Reality denied comes back to haunt.
Philip K. DickRead
Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.
John WoodenRead