100+ Powerful 1984 Quotes That Will Make You Think

"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."

"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both."

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."

"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past."

"The mutability of the past is the central tenet of Ingsoc."

"Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth."

"The party claims to have produced machines that think."

"To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies."

"Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else."

"Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by Insoc."

"If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, what controls the mind controls all."

"He who controls the present controls the past. He who controls the past controls the future."

"Big Brother is watching you."

"There was no darkness or escape. He was under constant surveillance."

"You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard."

"The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound Winston made above a very low whisper would be picked up."

"Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death."

"The Thought Police would get him just the same. He had committed—would still have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper—the essential crime."

"There was no place where you could be more alone than in a crowd."

"The eye of Big Brother was everywhere."

"Even in the home there was no privacy."

"You had to be careful even in your sleep."

"The smallest thing could give you away."

"Any sound, except the speaking voice, was often enough to attract suspicion."

"Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?"

"Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined."

"In the end we shall make thoughtcrime impossible because there will be no words in which to express it."

"The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect."

"Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."

"It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all, the false consciousness would be impossible."

"Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller."

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four."

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever."

"Power is not a means; it is an end."

"We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power."

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake."

"Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing."

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power."

"Power is not a means; it is an end."

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."

"All the beliefs, habits, tastes, emotions, mental attitudes that characterize our time are really designed to sustain the mystique of the Party."

"The Party is omnipotent, infallible, and eternal."

"The Party demands total submission, not only of the body but of the mind."

"The Party controls everything. Even your dreams."

"The Party knows everything. Even what you think."

"The Party does not tolerate dissent. Not even in silence."

"The Party rewrites history to fit its current needs."

"The Party does not allow independent thought."

"Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else."

"Sanity is not statistical."

"The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness. For the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better."

"If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened—that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death."

"The past was alterable. The past had been altered."

"What was worst of all was that by means of such exercises in doublethink one could forget any fact that had become inconvenient."

"The mind should be trained to accept what the Party says, regardless of sensory evidence."

"The Party claimed that the earth was flat and that the sun revolved around it. And if the Party said so, then it must be true."

"The Party controlled reality. It controlled the definition of truth."

"Truth was whatever the Party said it was at any given moment."

"There was no such thing as objective reality."

"If everyone believes a lie, then the lie becomes the truth."

"If there is hope, it lies in the proles."

"They could not alter your feelings: for that, you had to change yourself."

"I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY."

"In the face of pain, there are no heroes."

"The best books… are those that tell you what you know already."

"Resistance is futile—but necessary."

"He wrote in the diary: 'Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.'"

"To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle."

"Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death."

"He loved Big Brother."

"He betrayed her. She betrayed him. They were free."

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

"Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party."

"Their bodies had become weapons used against the Party."

"When you make love, you're using up energy. Two people clinging together, creating a world of their own."

"Their relationship was not about pleasure. It was about defiance."

"The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion."

"Love was private rebellion."

"She had a rebelliousness deep down in her belly, simple, undirected, powerful."

"What mattered was being able to think and feel—to love, even in secret."

"They belonged to one another, even after they betrayed each other."

"Their love was not romantic—it was revolutionary."

"For the first time in his life, he had something worth protecting."

"In a world of lies, love was the ultimate truth."

"The worst thing in the world is rats."

"You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty and then fill you with ourselves."

"There was no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment."

"The worst part was not knowing when it would come."

"The mind was forced into submission, not by argument, but by agony."

"Pain is not always felt immediately. Sometimes it comes later."

"The greatest fear is not death, but betrayal."

"They got inside your head. They stayed there."

"Fear was the foundation of obedience."

"The Thought Police didn’t need to arrest you. You arrested yourself."

"The most terrifying thing was not the punishment, but the certainty of being caught."

"Everyone was afraid. Everyone suspected everyone else."

"The past was dead, the future was unimaginable."

"Everything disappeared into the memory hole."

"The Ministry of Truth was responsible for lies."

"Whoever controls the past controls the future. Whoever controls the present controls the past."

"History was written not to record the past, but to justify the present."

"The past was mutable. The past was nonexistent."

"The calendar changed whenever it suited the Party."

"Records were constantly rewritten. Yesterday’s headlines bore no resemblance to today’s."

"The photograph proved nothing. The past had never existed."

"Memories were dangerous. Memories were crimes."

"He tried to remember his mother. He couldn’t."

"If all records told the same tale, then the lie passed into history and became truth."

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever."

"There was no hope. There was only obedience."

"He accepted everything. The lies, the pain, the hatred."

"He loved Big Brother."

"The war was endless. The suffering was eternal."

"No fate was worse than hope."

"Hope was the first step toward disappointment."

"Resistance led only to more pain."

"The individual was nothing. The collective was everything."

"He had lost the ability to hate."

"He had stopped loving her. He had stopped loving himself."

"He was free now. Free to love Big Brother."