George Orwell
English essayist, journalist and novelist (1903 to 1950); author of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm.
George Orwell did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Their wordsIt becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly
↗Politics and the English Language (Horizon, April 1946)orwellfoundation.com
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Their wordsIt consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. The attraction of this way of writing is that it is easy.
↗Politics and the English Language (Horizon, April 1946)orwellfoundation.com
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Their wordsThe great enemy of clear language is insincerity.
↗Politics and the English Language (Horizon, April 1946)orwellfoundation.com
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Their wordsBut if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.
↗Politics and the English Language (Horizon, April 1946)orwellfoundation.com
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Their wordsWhat is above all needed is to let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way about. In prose, the worst thing one can do with words is to surrender to them.
↗Politics and the English Language (Horizon, April 1946)orwellfoundation.com
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Our reading
If you simplify your English, a stupid remark becomes obviously stupid, even to yourself.
Their wordsIf you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself.
↗Politics and the English Language (Horizon, April 1946)orwellfoundation.com