The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.

Quote by George Orwell

Topics: George Orwell Quotes

Dickens is one of those authors who are well worth stealing.

Dickens is one of those authors who are well worth stealing.

In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

I sometimes think that the price of liberty is not so much eternal vigilance as...

I sometimes think that the price of liberty is not so much eternal vigilance as...

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

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

The crowds in the big towns, with their mild, knobby faces, their bad teeth and...

The crowds in the big towns, with their mild, knobby faces, their bad teeth and...

In our time political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.

In our time political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.

Progress is not an illusion, it happens, but it is slow and invariably disappointing.

Progress is not an illusion, it happens, but it is slow and invariably disappointing.

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...

Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship...

Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship...

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection ï¿½ that one...

The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection ï¿½ that one...

Enlightened people seldom or never possess a sense of responsibility.

Enlightened people seldom or never possess a sense of responsibility.

Whatever is funny is subversive, every joke is ultimately a custard pie... a dirty joke...

Whatever is funny is subversive, every joke is ultimately a custard pie... a dirty joke...

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they...

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they...

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.

Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.

War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going...

War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going...

Language ought to be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.

Language ought to be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.

Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a...

Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a...

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war...

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war...