Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

Text Guides

Quote Bank

Totalitarianism, power, and control

Quote

Part/ Chapter

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

Part 1,

Chapter 1

“The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats.” (Winston)

Part 1,

Chapter 1

“The world looked cold... there seemed to be no colour in anything.” (Winston)

Part 1,

Chapter 1

“War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.”

mentioned in multiple contexts

“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.” (O’Brien and Winston)

Part 1,

Chapter 2

“If there is hope, it lay in the Proles!” (Winston)

Part 1,

Chapter 7

"Until they become conscious they will never rebel and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious."

Part 1,

Chapter 7

“I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY.” (Winston)

Part 1,

Chapter 8

“If you kept the small rules you could break the big ones.” (Julia)

Part 2,

Chapter 3

“The primary aim of modern warfare. . . is to use up the products of the machine without raising the general standard of living.” (Goldstein)

Part 2,

Chapter 9

“Power is not a means, it is an end.” (O’Brien)

Part 3,

Chapter 3

“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake.” (O’Brien)

Part 3,

Chapter 3

“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” (O’Brien)

Part 3,

Chapter 3

“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.” (O’Brien)

Part 3,

Chapter 3

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face for ever.” (O’Brien)

Part 3,

Chapter 3

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