Quotes

Others

Harold Syme: It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. You won't have seen the 10th dictionary edition yet, Smith. It's [indicates size with his thumb and index finger] that thick. The 11th edition will be [decreases size to small] that thick. The secret’s to move from translation, to direct thought, to automatic response. No need for self-discipline. Language coming from [points at his throat] here, not from [points at his temples] here. Tom Parsons: Keep away from me, Smith. I’m an agent of Goldstein. I didn’t know it myself. Thoughtcrime is so insidious. It just creeps up on you. My daughter found it out. Very proud of her. Very grateful I’ve been discovered before it’s too late. They won’t shoot me, will they, Smith? I know I can be very useful in a labour camp...! Emmanuel Goldstein: [His finals words were recorded for the "Two Minutes Hate" before his execution...] What is freedom? Nothing the Party says is true. Nothing the Party does is good. Even the war itself isn't r

Dialogue

Winston Smith: Look, I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don't want virtue to exist anywhere! I want everyone corrupt. Julia: Well, I ought to suit you, dear. I'm corrupt to the core. Winston Smith: Do you like doing this? I don't mean just me... Julia: I adore it.

Dialogue

O'Brien: Tell me, Winston - and remember, no lies - what are your feelings towards Big Brother? Winston Smith: I hate him. O'Brien: You must love him. It is not enough to obey him. You must love him.

Dialogue

Winston Smith: I know you'll fail. Something in this world... some spirit you will never overcome... O'Brien: What is it, this principle? Winston Smith: I don't know. The spirit of man. O'Brien: And do you consider yourself a man? Winston Smith: Yes. O'Brien: If you're a man, Winston, you're the last man. Your kind is extinct. We are the inheritors. Do you realise that you are alone? You are outside history. You unexist. Get up. O'Brien: Look at you. You're rotting away. O'Brien: That is the last man. If you are human, that is humanity.

Dialogue

O'Brien: There are thought criminals who maintain that the resistance is not real. Believe me, Winston, it is very real. Perhaps you are not familiar with how it operates. Winston Smith: I am attentive to the news. O'Brien: Indeed. Then perhaps you imagine a huge network of conspirators prepared to commit any atrocity to weaken and demoralise the order of our society. The reality is infinitely more subtle. If Goldstein himself fell into the hands of the Thought Police, he could not give them a list of his agents. Such a list does not exist. They are not an organisation in the sense we know. Nothing holds it together but an idea. Individually, they cheat, forge, blackmail, corrupt children, spread disease and prostitution, in the name of spreading knowledge from generation to generation, until... in a thousand years...

Dialogue

Winston Smith: It's not so much staying alive, it's staying human that's important. What counts is that we don't betray each other. Julia: If you mean confessing, we're bound to do that. Everybody does. You can't help it. Winston Smith: I don't mean confessing. Confessing isn't betrayal. I mean feelings. If they can make me change my feelings. If they can stop me from loving you, that would be real betrayal. Julia: They can't do that. It's the one thing they can't do. They can torture you, make you say anything. But they can't make you believe it. They can't get inside you. They can't get to your heart.

Dialogue

Winston Smith: She's beautiful. [admiring a woman who sings a Party-made prole song] Julia: She's a metre across the hips, easily. Winston Smith: That's her style of beauty. The future is hers. We are the dead. Julia: We are the dead. Big Brother: You are the dead. Big Brother: Remain exactly where you are. Make no move until you are ordered. Julia: Now they can see us. Big Brother: Now we can see you. Clasp your hands behind your head. Stand back to back. Do not touch one another. Winston Smith: The house is surrounded. Big Brother: The house is surrounded. Julia: I suppose we may as well say good-bye. Big Brother: You may as well say good-bye. While we are on the subject, "Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop off your head!"