Prolonged, indiscriminate reviewing of books is a quite exceptionally thankless, irritating and exhausting job. It not only involves praising trash but constantly inventing reactions towards books about which one has no spontaneous feeling whatever.

Quote by George Orwell

Topics: Books Quotes

To survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty...

To survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty...

There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in...

There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in...

Joyce is a poet and also an elephantine pedant.

Joyce is a poet and also an elephantine pedant.

The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.

The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.

Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life...

Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life...

The Catholic and the Communist are alike in assuming that an opponent cannot be both...

The Catholic and the Communist are alike in assuming that an opponent cannot be both...

It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising...

It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising...

Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give...

Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give...

The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the...

The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the...

He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the...

He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the...

For the ordinary man is passive. Within a narrow circle (home life, and perhaps the...

For the ordinary man is passive. Within a narrow circle (home life, and perhaps the...

Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia.

Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia.

Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent.

Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent.

We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is...

We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is...

All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can...

All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can...

The intellectual is different from the ordinary man, but only in certain sections of his...

The intellectual is different from the ordinary man, but only in certain sections of his...

(Mankind) is not likely to salvage civilization unless he can evolve a system of good...

(Mankind) is not likely to salvage civilization unless he can evolve a system of good...

Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear

Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both...

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both...

No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There...

No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There...