I guess no-one can be unaware of the the awful mess the world seems to have got itself into; or rather, the humans on it, because I often think that nature and the animals would manage quite well without us here. The last couple of months of 2019 were particularly hideous, and we seem to be surrounded by hate and lies wherever we turn. After the result of the UK General Election (one I was expecting, but was particularly unhappy about) I found myself drawing much comfort from reading George Orwell, and in particular a book which Youngest Child gifted me a while ago; a lovely anthology entitled “Orwell on Truth”. Bearing in mind how many lies seem to be thrown about wildly nowadays, his views were prescient, trenchant and so very relevant.
“Orwell on Truth” draws quotations and extracts from a wide range of his works, starting with “Burmese Days” in 1934 up until his final masterwork “Nineteen Eighty Four”. All are startling, enlightening and bracing, showing for me what a unique thinker and commentator he was, and also how we’re missing someone of his stature nowadays. Interestingly, the extracts revealed the fact that there were recurring motifs in his work (the ‘boot in face’ one from “Nineteen Eighty Four” turned up surprisingly early in 1941).
Rather than go on and on about how brilliant Orwell was, I thought I would just share a few favourite quotes here; and if they encourage you to go and read him, so much the better. As Alan Johnson says in his pithy introduction, “Orwell’s writing brought clarity and an understanding of the dark and dangerous times we were living through” and I think that statement applies very much to today. I certainly found reading Owell helped my mind to settle and clarify, and as Christopher Hitchens said, he is still “vividly contemporary“. Orwell’s writing is always clear and pertinent, and I doubt we will see his like again.
*****
The monied class can keep all the important ministerial and official jobs in its own hands, and it can work the electoral system in its own favour by bribing the electorate, directly or indirectly. Even when by some mischance a government representing the poorer classes gets into power, the rich can usually blackmail it… (1941)
*****
One of the worst things about a democratic society in the last twenty years has been the difficulty of any straight talking or thinking. (1941)
*****
If the intellectual liberty which without a doubt has been one of the distinguishing marks of western civilisation means anything at all, it means that everyone shall have the right to say and to print what he believes to be the truth, provided only that it does not harm the rest of the community in some quite unmistakable way. Both capitalist democracy and the western versions of Socialism have till recently taken that principle for granted. (1945)
*****
It is not said often enough that a nation gets the newspapers it deserves… When the bulk of the press is owned by handful of people, one has not much choice… (1946)
*****
Political language – and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists – is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. (1945)
Laurie @ RelevantObscurity
Jan 03, 2020 @ 07:27:22
Yikes, the last one especially is the US right now….Orwell was amazingly and scarily prophetic.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 03, 2020 @ 09:37:49
He was! It terrifies me how relevant he still is – sadly…
MarinaSofia
Jan 03, 2020 @ 07:34:59
Alas, yes, still sounds as fresh and relevant as the day ir was written…
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 03, 2020 @ 09:37:18
Yeah – Orwell only becomes more relevant as the years go on! Mr Kaggsy is a bit of a news hound and is always reporting the latest depressing developments. We constantly find ourselves wondering how Orwell could have known what was going to happen in the future…
Tredynas Days
Jan 03, 2020 @ 09:11:30
where are the old Etonians like him today?
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 03, 2020 @ 09:33:09
Quite! He was of a much superior calibre and mind to the trash it turns out nowadays!
Paula Bardell-Hedley
Jan 03, 2020 @ 12:37:45
It always surprises me how relevant the words of Orwell remain in the 21st century – although it really shouldn’t. Humans change very little when you dig beneath the surface. Will we ever learn? I fear not. 😢
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 03, 2020 @ 12:50:11
They really are still so spot on, and I agree – humanity doesn’t improve much, despite the best efforts of some of us… 😦
Simon T
Jan 03, 2020 @ 14:14:57
Very interesting… if not all that encouraging!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 03, 2020 @ 16:29:06
True! But somehow reassuring to know that *someone* was capable of seeing through all the BS. Maybe there could be hope…?
Linda
Jan 03, 2020 @ 14:58:00
Thank you for those quotes, Karen. All so true……
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 03, 2020 @ 16:28:27
Unfortunately so – on both sides of the Atlantic, I think…
Silvia
Jan 03, 2020 @ 15:10:34
Wow, what great truths, eerily accurate.
And let’s take a sec and admire your copy. What a beauty.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 03, 2020 @ 16:27:55
The are – very pungent and pithy.
And it is a very pretty edition, with some nice graphical representations of his quotes inside too!
madamebibilophile
Jan 03, 2020 @ 16:15:17
It’s so sad that Orwell really hasn’t dated, but I’m glad we have him to articulate these truths to us, even now.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 03, 2020 @ 16:26:10
It is – in some ways I almost wish I was saying how wrong he was. He does help clarify the mind, though!
heavenali
Jan 03, 2020 @ 18:05:06
I agree with you about the last couple of months of 2019 being hideous. How depressing it has all been. I can also see why you were drawn to Orwell. Those quotes are amazing, how chillingly they resonate still. That his words should still be so relevant is frightening.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 03, 2020 @ 19:04:50
It has indeed been very depressing. I think I just needed something as a contrast to the morass of lies constantly being spouted, and his clarity did actually calm me, despite the horror of what’s been going on. I could have quoted so much of the book that’s still revelant – which is indeed scary…
JacquiWine
Jan 03, 2020 @ 19:30:05
Prescient is the very word that springs to mind when I think of Orwell, a truly visionary writer. Sadly, his observations on many aspects of life remain all too relevant today…
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 04, 2020 @ 15:04:10
That’s exactly the word – how *could* he have known? Yet he did, and as you say, sadly he’s still so relevant…
TravellinPenguin
Jan 03, 2020 @ 22:04:20
I have always found Orwell’s writing to be so brilliant and still so relevant.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 04, 2020 @ 15:03:30
Very much so. I seem to return to him often, and I’m never disappointed!
Julé
Jan 04, 2020 @ 04:43:58
He saw so clearly through all the smoke and mirrors and could articulate what he saw perfectly. “Every thinking person nowadays is stiff with fright”. I think my shoulders have been up by my ears for 3 years now. Love the quotes you picked out…
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 04, 2020 @ 15:02:58
And I could have picked out so many more! His clarity of mind is incredible! 🙂
cirtnecce
Jan 04, 2020 @ 13:18:25
He was a far far seeing man….I wish reading Orwell was mandatory world over for all Politicians and bureaucrats!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 04, 2020 @ 14:57:45
He was, and I so agree! Might knock some sense into their heads…. 😦
Gilt and Dust
Jan 05, 2020 @ 07:56:39
That last quote!!! Thanks for these.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 05, 2020 @ 12:35:50
I know!! And what’s more frightening is that the whole book contains quotes and truths that are still so relevant. Chilling…
Liz Dexter
Jan 06, 2020 @ 08:10:31
I can’t really add to what everyone else has said, but yes, indeed!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 06, 2020 @ 11:32:43
Yeah – scary stuff…. 😦
Emma
Jan 19, 2020 @ 20:01:27
It’s disheartening to find him so relevant so many decades later.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 19, 2020 @ 20:03:42
Well, it is. We should have moved on by now, but it seems we haven’t. Depresses me that humanity never seems to learn…
Emma
Jan 19, 2020 @ 20:08:40
Yes. That’s because these tendencies are rooted deep in human nature and I don’t think it will ever change.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 19, 2020 @ 20:17:40
Unfortunately, I agree with you… 😦
Lisa Hill
Jan 19, 2020 @ 21:02:43
We are big fans of Orwell chez moi. I read 1984 and Animal Farm as a girl and talked about his ideas with my father on long lazy Saturday afternoons, and then when I had my own home I bought everything else that I could find and read that too. When The Spouse came into my life we merged collections, and these days there is almost always an Orwell on the coffee table. One of the great thinkers of our time, and one I always think of when I see people say that they only ever read books by women…
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 20, 2020 @ 13:40:01
Here too. Such a pithy and always on point author. As you say, he’s one of the great thinkers of our time. I can never restrict myself to reading just one gender – I’ll read books by anyone if they’re good!! 🙂
buriedinprint
Feb 01, 2020 @ 19:42:49
I’ve been thinking that I would like to return to Orwell and spend more time with his non-fiction. OOH it is disheartening that we have not necessarily resolved the same issues he observed. OTOH, the opposite is also true, that he and other thinkers endured and survived those struggles and left their words and – in that form, at least – their efforts – for us later readers, and that seems hopeful and inspiring.
On a related note, some program I was listening to, maybe one of the bookish programs on BBC, considered a parent reading their child Animal Farm over a period of time, and I thought it was such an interesting way to chart a child’s growth in understanding – how many different ways one can receive that story. (It’s one I studied in high school, so I always understood, for instance, that they were not “real” animals. But I can see where the story would work perfectly well even if taken rather literally!)
kaggsysbookishramblings
Feb 01, 2020 @ 20:21:08
His non-fiction always catches me unawares – it’s just so good. He’s immensely readable and seemingly simple but actually gets across some wonderful and pithy ideas. All of his writing is inspiring really and he always seems to articulate what I want to say or what I think.
And yes – Animal Farm does transcend boundaries, because a child would still see the issues there even if they weren’t seeing the allegory. The unfairness would still come across. It really is a work of genius.
dumbestblogger
Feb 07, 2020 @ 04:49:03
Yep. Pretty sure we have the newspapers we deserve.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Feb 07, 2020 @ 10:27:34
We do. It’s really scary….