George Orwell — Quote from Nineteen Eighty-Four
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
Concepts: freedom, authenticity, totalitarianism
Resonant Quotes
- “If the main pillar of the system is living a lie, then it is not surprising t...” — Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless Both authors identify the acknowledgment of basic truth as the fundamental act of resistance against totalitarian sys...
- “Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think.” — Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition Arendt's observation about tyranny suppressing thought finds its perfect complement in Orwell's identification of bas...
- “So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so pain...” — Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov Both quotes explore the paradox that freedom creates the very conditions for its own surrender—Dostoevsky through the...
- “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convi...” — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism Orwell's defense of mathematical truth directly counters Arendt's description of totalitarian success in destroying c...
- “To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment Both quotes assert that authentic selfhood requires the fundamental right to maintain one's own relationship to truth...
- “Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of expe...” — James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Both assert the artist's and citizen's fundamental duty to forge authentic truth against collective illusion, though ...
- “I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it calls itself m...” — James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Both identify the fundamental freedom to speak truth against authoritarian pressure, with Joyce's artistic rebellion ...
- “No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” — Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own Both quotes define freedom as the right to authentic expression—Woolf's personal authenticity and Orwell's intellectu...