Charms in 1984
1984 by George Orwell
328 pages
"The consequences of every act are included in the act itself."
"Orthodoxy means not thinking -- not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
"There was something he lacked: discretion, aloofness, a sort of saving stupidity."
"Your worst enemy, he reflected, was your own nervous system. At any moment the tension inside you was liable to translate itself into some visible system."
"Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious."
"[A]fter all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both past and the external world exist only in the ind, and if the mind itself is controllable what then?"
"[I]n moments of crisis one is never fighting against an external enemy, but always against one's own body."
"If you loved someone, you loved him, and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love."
"But if the object was not to stay alive but to stay human, what difference did it ultimately make?"
"From the point of view of the Low, no historic change has ever meant much more than a change in the name of their masters."
"For it is only by reconciling contradictions that power can be retained indefinitely."
"There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad."
"Why should the fruit be held inferior to the flower?"
"Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood."
"What most oppressed him was the consciousness of his own intellectual inferiority."
"We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Powers is not a means, it is an end."
"If you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself."
--
This book definitely failed me. I hear and read so many references about it, I decided to read it. It's an easy-read, took about 3 days, but in the end I didn't understand why everyone loved it so much. The narration is confusing and the characters are so appalling. No character development, obvious ending, no moral lessons, no life-changing passages -- just a dull dystopian story.
328 pages
"The consequences of every act are included in the act itself."
"Orthodoxy means not thinking -- not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
"There was something he lacked: discretion, aloofness, a sort of saving stupidity."
"Your worst enemy, he reflected, was your own nervous system. At any moment the tension inside you was liable to translate itself into some visible system."
"Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious."
"[A]fter all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both past and the external world exist only in the ind, and if the mind itself is controllable what then?"
"[I]n moments of crisis one is never fighting against an external enemy, but always against one's own body."
"If you loved someone, you loved him, and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love."
"But if the object was not to stay alive but to stay human, what difference did it ultimately make?"
"From the point of view of the Low, no historic change has ever meant much more than a change in the name of their masters."
"For it is only by reconciling contradictions that power can be retained indefinitely."
"There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad."
"Why should the fruit be held inferior to the flower?"
"Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood."
"What most oppressed him was the consciousness of his own intellectual inferiority."
"We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Powers is not a means, it is an end."
"If you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself."
--
This book definitely failed me. I hear and read so many references about it, I decided to read it. It's an easy-read, took about 3 days, but in the end I didn't understand why everyone loved it so much. The narration is confusing and the characters are so appalling. No character development, obvious ending, no moral lessons, no life-changing passages -- just a dull dystopian story.