Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism as I understand it.

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out always cut it out. Never use the passive voice where you can use the active. Never use a foreign phrase a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Envy is a horrible thing. It is unlike all other kinds of suffering in that there is no disguising it, no elevating it into tragedy. It is more than merely painful, it is disgusting.

Progress is not an illusion, it happens, but it is slow and invariably disappointing.

To walk through the ruined cities of Germany is to feel an actual doubt about the continuity of civilization.

If you kept the small rules, you could break the big ones.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.