Skip to content
quotesby

It's not a matter of whether the war is not real, or if it is, Victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia but to keep the very structure of society intact.

George Orwell#140

WarSocietyPowerPovertyControlStrategy

About this quote

What does it mean?
Orwell argues that perpetual war serves to maintain hierarchy and poverty rather than achieve victory.
In plain terms
War continues to keep society poor and controlled.
What can you take from it?
Continuous war preserves power structures.

Where it applies

  • dystopian analysis
  • political theory
  • social critique

Putting it to work

  • critiquing militarism
  • analyzing power dynamics
  • studying social control

Questions to consider

  • Why does war continue?
  • Who benefits from conflict?

Another view

Not all wars are designed to continue indefinitely.

More from George Orwell

  1. If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot, stamping on a human face forever.

    Permalink to quote #139
  2. To enforce the lies of the present, it is necessary to erase the truths of the past.

    Permalink to quote #141
  3. We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf.

    Permalink to quote #138

Related quotes

  1. A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill.

    Robert A. HeinleinRobert A. Heinlein quote #56
  2. Upon this, one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones …

    Niccolo MachiavelliNiccolo Machiavelli quote #1
  3. ...no bloody or unbloody change of society can eradicate the evil in man: as long as there will be men, there will be malice, envy and hatred, and hence there …

    Leo StraussLeo Strauss quote #1