Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Tyranny or liberty
When the people fear their government there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
The goal of Newspeak
Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.
Propaganda’s purpose
The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.
Laissez-faire has not failed
It is not laissez-faire that has failed. That would be an ill day for men. What has failed is the courage to see what is true and speak it to the people, to point to the true remedies.
Liberty or servitude
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.
Courage first
Courage is the first of all the virtues because if you haven’t courage, you may not have the opportunity to use any of the others.
Swimming against the stream
Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions that differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.
Government vs. liberty
All government, of course, is against liberty.
Eat the others
If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.
Getting what you deserve
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
Running the circus
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.