Even the slogans willchange. How could you have a slogan like ‘freedom is slavery’when the concept of freedom has been abolished? Thewhole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy meansnot thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.

Political writing in our time consists almost entirely of prefabricated phrases bolted together like the pieces of a child's Meccano set. It is the unavoidable result of self-censorship. To write in plain, vigorous language one has to think fearlessly, and if one thinks fearlessly one cannot be politically orthodox.

...one ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring some improvement by starting at the verbal end....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.-- 'Politics and the English Language,' 1946

The inflated style is itself a kind of euphemism. A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.

Prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house.

What is above all needed is to let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way around. In prose, the worst thing you can do with words is to surrender to them.

But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.

The greatest enemy of clear language is insincerity.

The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect.