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
A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph but when it is still felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the struggle between human dignity and destructive forces, suggesting that even in tragedy, humanity's nobility is acknowledged.
George Orwell highlights the tragic nature of human existence, where despite facing overwhelming forces that seek to destroy individual virtue and nobility, there persists a belief in the inherent greatness of humanity. This tension showcases the complexity of moral existence, suggesting that even in dire circumstances, the acknowledgement of human nobility offers a glimmer of hope and purpose.
Themes
TragedyVirtueHumanityNobilityDestruction
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about resilience after disasters.
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.
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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.
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Not to expose your true feelings to an adult seems to be instinctive from the age of seven or eight onwards.
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As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.
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Similar quotes
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People consider the harms they inflict to be justified and forgettable, and the harms they suffer to be unprovoked and grievous.
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Forget about enlightenment. Sit down wherever you are and listen to the wind that is singing in your veins. Feel the love, the longing and the fear in your bones. Open your heart to who you are, right now, not who you would like to be. Not the saint you're striving to become. But the being right here before you, inside you, around you. All of you is holy. You're already more and less than whatever you can know. Breathe out, look in, let go.
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To become imperceptible oneself, to have dismantled love in order to become capable of loving. To have dismantled one's self in order finally to be alone and meet the true double at the other end of the line. A clandestine passenger on a motionless voyage. To become like everybody else; but this, precisely, is a becoming only for one who knows how to be nobody, to no longer be anybody. To paint oneself gray on gray.
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Woman's degradation is in mans idea of his sexual rights. Our religion, laws, customs, are all founded on the belief that woman was made for man.
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