George Orwell Quotes

Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men.

Fear must rule in a despotism.

Fear has always been the driving force behind all dictators' repression.

Tyranny is Tyranny, let it come from whom it may.

Every dictatorship has ultimately strangled in the web of repression it wove for its people, making mistakes that could not be corrected because criticism was prohibited.

Under dictatorship, the people in prison are always superior to the people who put them there.

Secrecy is the freedom tyrants dream of.

The more complete the despotism, the more smoothly all things move on the surface.

I fear that, tired of anarchy, you may hope at the end for a return of oppression and that you may welcome the yoke of the first fortunate adventurer who shows up, who, far from consolidating your destiny, will only prolong your servitude

Oppressive government is more terrible than tigers.

The more a regime claims to be the embodiment of liberty the more tyrannical it is likely to be.

this monster, this Colossus of Despotism ... a deep laid scheme to enslave us.

... a step in the direction of tyranny.

Whatever crushes individuality is despotism.

Such is the terror--the crushing fear--which is inspired by one man over that multitude, which now submits to his decrees with a zeal, apparently as ardent, as it is certainly abject and submissive. There is not a complaint heard. The calm and dark waters of despotism are never disturbed by the slightest ripple. Not a breath of free thought or manly speech passes over them, but they lie dead and deep, into which every vestige of the people's liberty and freedom has sunk and disappeared.

Rule with an iron first will inevitably come to an end.

One need only watch totalitarians at work to see that once men gain power over other men’s minds, that power is never used sparingly and wisely, but lavishly and brutally and with unspeakable results.

It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order.

An autocratic system of coercion, in my opinion, soon degenerates. For force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels. For this reason I have always been passionately opposed to systems such as we see in Italy and Russia to-day.

If winning is the only value, why debate when you can suppress?

Totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere.

The tyrant claims freedom to kill freedom, and yet keep it for himself.

Despotism has so often been established in the name of liberty that experience should warn us to judge parties by their practices rather than their preachings.

A collective tyrant, spread over the length and breadth of the land, is no more acceptable than a single tyrant ensconced on his throne.

The world will not accept dictatorship or domination.