Цитаты из книги «1984»

From the point of view of our present rulers, therefore, the only genuine dangers are the splitting-off of a new group of able, under-employed, power-hungry people, and the growth of liberalism and scepticism in their own ranks.

The masses never revolt of their own accord, and they never revolt just because they are oppressed.

As soon as they have reached their objective, the Middle thrust the Low back into their old position, and themselves become the High. A new Middle group splits off from one of the other groups, or from both of them, and the struggle begins over again. Of the three groups, only the Low are never even temporarily successful in achieving their aims.

But sooner or later there always comes a moment when they lose either their belief in themselves or their capacity to govern efficiently, or both. They are then overthrown by the Middle, who enlist the Low on their side by pretending to them that they are fighting for liberty and justice.

The aim of the High is to remain where they are. The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal.

A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war. This is the inner meaning of the Party slogan: WAR IS PEACE.

Today they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects. The object of the war is to keep the structure of society intact.

Nothing is efficient in Oceania except the Thought Police.

There are therefore two great problems which the Party is concerned to solve. One is how to discover, against his will, what another human being is thinking, and the other is how to kill several hundred million people in a few seconds without giving warning beforehand.

The two goals of the Party are to conquer the whole surface of the earth and to get rid of all the possibility of independent thought.