In my opinion nothing has contributed more to the corruption of the original idea of socialism as the belief that Russia is a socialist country.

If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out

Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Good novels are not written by orthodoxy-sniffers, nor by people who are conscience-stricken about their own orthodoxy. Good novels are written by people who are not frightened.

Nationalism is power hunger tempered by self-deception.

Creeds like pacifism or anarchism, which seem on the surface to imply a complete renunciation of power, rather encourage this habit of mind. For if you have embraced a creed which appears to be free from the ordinary dirtiness of politics ... the more you are in the right (and) everybody else should be bullied into thinking otherwise.

The more intelligent, the less sane