To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
Aldous HuxleyRead
A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that the most effective totalitarian regime is one where people willingly accept their oppression because they believe they benefit from it.
Aldous Huxley presents a disturbing vision of a totalitarian state where absolute power is not enforced through fear or force, but rather through the citizens’ acceptance and even affection for their subjugation. This idea challenges conventional notions of freedom and raises questions about the nature of happiness and control, suggesting that true liberation may be incompatible with societal structures that prioritize efficiency and obedience over individual autonomy.
Themes
TotalitarianismFreedomControlHappinessServitudePhilosophySociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about modern governance, this quote can illustrate the subtlety of control in society.
More from Aldous Huxley
All quotes →Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Aldous HuxleyRead
In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country.
Aldous HuxleyRead
On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
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No man ever dared to manifest his boredom so insolently as does a Siamese tomcat when he yawns in the face of his amorously importunate wife.
Aldous HuxleyRead
The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, The prurient ape's defiling touch: And do you like the human race? No, not much.
Aldous HuxleyRead
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The slave frees himself when, of all the relations of private property, he abolishes only the relation of slavery and thereby becomes a proletarian; the proletarian can free himself only by abolishing private property in general.
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It is the most ambitious and driven among us who are the most sorely in need of having our reckless hopes dampened through immersive dousings in the darkness which religions have explored. This is a particular priority for secular Americans, perhaps the most anxious and disappointed people on earth, for their nation infuses them with the most extreme hopes about what they may be able to achieve in their working lives and relationships.
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Forgetting your Self is the greatest injury; all the calamities flow from it. Take care of the most important, the lesser will take care of itself. You do not tidy up a dark room. You open the windows first. Letting in the light makes everything easy. So, let us wait with improving others until we see ourselves as we are/ and have changed. There is no need to turn round and round in endless questioning; find yourself and everything will fall into its proper place.
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You've never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive.
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Only when human sorrows are turned into a toy with glaring colors will baby people become interested - for a while at least. The people are a very fickle baby that must have new toys every day.
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