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
To accept civilization as it is practically means accepting decay.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Accepting the current state of civilization implies acknowledging its flaws and moral decline.
George Orwell's quote suggests that to fully embrace the civilization we live in is to also recognize the inherent decay and moral degradation that accompanies it. It points to the idea that societies often deteriorate over time, and that complacency in accepting the status quo may lead to an acceptance of decline rather than striving for improvement or change.
Themes
CivilizationDecayComplacencySocietyChange
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on societal values, this quote can highlight the importance of critical engagement with our world.
More from George Orwell
All quotes βThe 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
What we call the market is really a democratic process involving millions, and in some markets billions, of people making personal decisions that express their preferences. When you hear someone say that he doesn't trust the market, and wants to replace it with government edicts, he's really calling for a switch from a democratic process to a totalitarian one.
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Human nature is so constituted, that all see and judge better in the affairs of other men than in their own.
TerenceRead
It is difficult for the American mind to adjust to the realization that the Rhetts and the Scarletts were as much monsters as the keepers of Buchenwald-they just dressed more attractively.
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Now I'm an old Christmas tree, the roots of which have died. They just come along and while the little needles fall off me replace them with medallions.
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Civilization is a work of peaceful co-operation.
Ludwig Von MisesRead
If I were going to begin practicing the presence of God for the first time today, it would help to begin by admitting the three most terrible truths of our existence: that we are so ruined, and so loved, and in charge of so little.
Anne LamottRead