Quote #101

The Left as a whole failed to foresee the rise of Fascism and failed to grasp that the Nazis were dangerous even when they were on the verge of seizing power. To appreciate the danger of Fascism the Left would have had to admit its own shortcomings, which was too painful; so the whole phenomenon was ignored or misinterpreted, with disastrous results.

More from George Orwell

  1. So far as I can see, all political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it co…
  2. The most one can say is that people can be fairly good prophets when their wishes are realizable. But a truly objective approach is almost …
  3. Between them these two books sum up our present predicament. Capitalism leads to dole queues, the scramble for markets, and war. Collectivi…
  4. I believe that it is possible to be more objective than most of us are, but that it involves a moral effort. One cannot get away from one's…
  5. The thing Mr Zilliacus leaves out of account is that wars have results, irrespective of the motives of those who precipitate them. No one c…
  6. By 'nationalism' I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millio…
  7. In the negative part of Professor Hayek's thesis there is a great deal of truth. It cannot be said too often - at any rate, it is not being…
  8. Nationalism is power-hunger tempered by self-deception.

All George Orwell quotes