Las siguientes citas, extraídas de la novela “1984” (“Nineteen Eighty-Four”) de George Orwell tienen como objetivo dar una muestra de lo esencial del libro.
1 “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”
2 “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.”
3 “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
4 “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
5 “Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.”
6 “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”
7 “The consequences of every act are included in the act itself.”
8 “The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is murder. The object of power is power.”
9 “The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.”
10 “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power.”
11 “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull.”
12 “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.”
13 “Big Brother is Watching You.”
14 “If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred, and self-righteousness on which his morale depends might evaporate. It is therefore realized on all sides that however ofter Persia, or Egypt, or Java, or Ceylon may change hands, the main frontiers must never be crossed by anything except bombs.”
15 “Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”
Doblepensar, agujeros de la memoria, Ministerio del Amor… Estos y otros veinte términos esenciales de “1984” aquí.