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Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism", "heading": "Quotes about totalitarianism", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism.md", "quotes_count": 48, "authors_count": 23, "parent": { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power", "heading": "Quotes about power" }, "children": [], "quotes": [ { "id": "3c39b15d-9474-4475-8a09-8063a49471f9", "slug": "public-opinion-wouldnt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isabel-allende/the-house-of-the-spirits/public-opinion-wouldnt", "text": "\"Public opinion wouldn’t stand for it,” Gómez replied. “This is a democracy. It’s not a dictatorship and it never will be.” “We always think things like that only happen elsewhere,” said Miguel, “until they happen to us too.” (p367)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isabel Allende", "slug": "isabel-allende", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isabel-allende" }, "book": { "title": "The House of the Spirits", "slug": "the-house-of-the-spirits", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isabel-allende/the-house-of-the-spirits" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isabel_Allende#The_House_of_the_Spirits_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:45" }, { "id": "55ca1a48-c6a4-4c5d-86eb-e9048e211c5c", "slug": "starvation-was-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-applebaum/red-famine/starvation-was-the", "text": "Starvation was the result, rather, of the forcible removal of food from people’s homes; the roadblocks that prevented peasants from seeking work or food; the harsh rules of the blacklists imposed on farms and villages; the restrictions on barter and trade; and the vicious propaganda campaign designed to persuade Ukrainians to watch, unmoved, as their neighbours died of hunger.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anne Applebaum", "slug": "anne-applebaum", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-applebaum" }, "book": { "title": "Red Famine", "slug": "red-famine", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-applebaum/red-famine" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" }, { "name": "hunger", "slug": "hunger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hunger" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Applebaum#Red_Famine:_Stalin's_War_on_Ukraine_(2017)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:05" }, { "id": "6f9ecc07-5c4d-4cee-973b-485bb8474dec", "slug": "thats-how-a-police", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/trevor-noah/born-a-crime/thats-how-a-police", "text": "That’s how a police state works - everyone thinks everyone else is the police.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Trevor Noah", "slug": "trevor-noah", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/trevor-noah" }, "book": { "title": "Born a Crime", "slug": "born-a-crime", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/trevor-noah/born-a-crime" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 25, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Trevor_Noah#Born_a_Crime:_Stories_from_a_South_African_Childhood_(2016)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:46" }, { "id": "e60fd994-96ad-4f34-8674-7280a3f86320", "slug": "fascists-rejected-reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/timothy-snyder/on-tyranny/fascists-rejected-reason", "text": "Fascists rejected reason... denying objective truth in favor of glorious myth articulated by leaders who claimed to give voice to the people.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Timothy Snyder", "slug": "timothy-snyder", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/timothy-snyder" }, "book": { "title": "On Tyranny", "slug": "on-tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/timothy-snyder/on-tyranny" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Timothy_D._Snyder#On_Tyranny_(2017)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:40" }, { "id": "d5880a83-a3db-47d2-8b1f-b6952b56493d", "slug": "the-communist-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tony-judt/postwar/the-communist-state", "text": "The Communist state was in a permanent condition of undeclared war against its own citizens. Like Lenin, Stalin understood the need for enemies, and it was in the logic of the Stalinist state that it was constantly mobilizing against its foes—external, but above all domestic.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tony Judt", "slug": "tony-judt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tony-judt" }, "book": { "title": "Postwar", "slug": "postwar", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tony-judt/postwar" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" }, { "name": "communism", "slug": "communism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/communism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tony_Judt#Postwar:_A_History_of_Europe_Since_1945_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:30" }, { "id": "a2acebab-a3fb-4dc0-a580-d217b8cf300f", "slug": "your-daddy-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clavell/the-childrens-story/your-daddy-had", "text": "Your daddy had to go back to school a little. He had some strange thoughts — and he wanted other grown-ups to believe them. It's not right for others to believe wrong thoughts, is it?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Clavell", "slug": "james-clavell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clavell" }, "book": { "title": "The Children's Story", "slug": "the-childrens-story", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clavell/the-childrens-story" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Clavell#The_Children's_Story_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:47" }, { "id": "59bd4bb3-ec33-472d-b5ba-b756348d4b4c", "slug": "im-going-to-work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clavell/the-childrens-story/im-going-to-work", "text": "I'm going to work hard not to have any wrong thoughts!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Clavell", "slug": "james-clavell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clavell" }, "book": { "title": "The Children's Story", "slug": "the-childrens-story", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clavell/the-childrens-story" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Clavell#The_Children's_Story_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:47" }, { "id": "a06d382d-6310-4cd2-912c-0227612fdaa7", "slug": "national-socialism-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vasily-grossman/life-and-fate/national-socialism-had", "text": "National Socialism had created a new type of political criminals: criminals who had not committed a crime.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Vasily Grossman", "slug": "vasily-grossman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vasily-grossman" }, "book": { "title": "Life and Fate", "slug": "life-and-fate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vasily-grossman/life-and-fate" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 5, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "justice", "slug": "justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vasily_Grossman#Life_and_Fate_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:32" }, { "id": "076c48d9-e0e8-43e3-ba57-4a3c1542b7a9", "slug": "a-man-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vasily-grossman/life-and-fate/a-man-who", "text": "A man who has placed his soul in the service of Fascism declares an evil and dangerous slavery to be the only true good. Rather than overtly renouncing human feelings, he declares the crimes committed by Fascism to be the highest form of humanitarianism; he agrees to divide people up into the pure and worthy and the impure and unworthy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Vasily Grossman", "slug": "vasily-grossman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vasily-grossman" }, "book": { "title": "Life and Fate", "slug": "life-and-fate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vasily-grossman/life-and-fate" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 199, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "slavery", "slug": "slavery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/slavery" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vasily_Grossman#Life_and_Fate_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:32" }, { "id": "8c91a24f-e986-40a3-8495-162ec7c9fcf5", "slug": "cant-trust-a-fascist-truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover/blade-of-tyshalle/cant-trust-a-fascist-truth", "text": "Can't trust a fascist--truth is always your first sacrifice to the welfare of the state", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Matthew Stover", "slug": "matthew-stover", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover" }, "book": { "title": "Blade of Tyshalle", "slug": "blade-of-tyshalle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover/blade-of-tyshalle" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 74, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Matthew_Stover#Blade_of_Tyshalle_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:44" }, { "id": "b57bb5eb-0cbb-4764-87c5-c38a1eed2172", "slug": "it-was-surprising", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer/rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich/it-was-surprising", "text": "It was surprising and sometimes consternating to find that notwithstanding the opportunities I had to learn the facts and despite one’s inherent distrust of what one learned from Nazi sources, a steady diet over the years of falsifications and distortions made a certain impression on one’s mind and often misled it. No one who has not lived for years in a totalitarian land can possibly conceive how difficult it is to escape the dread consequences of a regime’s calculated and incessant propaganda. Often in a German home or office or sometimes in a casual conversation with a stranger in a restaurant, a beer hall, a café, I would meet with the most outlandish assertions from seemingly educated and intelligent persons.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William L. Shirer", "slug": "william-l-shirer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer" }, "book": { "title": "Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich", "slug": "rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer/rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_L._Shirer#The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Third_Reich_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:10" }, { "id": "438b4113-9707-4d19-8fa4-7890ccf181ad", "slug": "i-myself-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer/rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich/i-myself-was", "text": "I myself was to experience how easily one is taken in by a lying and censored press and radio in a totalitarian state.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William L. Shirer", "slug": "william-l-shirer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer" }, "book": { "title": "Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich", "slug": "rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer/rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_L._Shirer#The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Third_Reich_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:10" }, { "id": "1505c00a-1463-4f89-ac89-1c50a1053f02", "slug": "they-cant-say", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/american-empire-the-victorious-opposition/they-cant-say", "text": "“They can’t say anything against the government, not in public they can’t.” “Is it a country or a jail?” Carsten asked. “Near as I can tell, sir,” the second yeoman said, “it’s a jail.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Harry Turtledove", "slug": "harry-turtledove", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove" }, "book": { "title": "American Empire: The Victorious Opposition", "slug": "american-empire-the-victorious-opposition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/american-empire-the-victorious-opposition" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 209, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" }, { "name": "freedom of speech", "slug": "freedom-of-speech", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom-of-speech" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove#American_Empire:_The_Victorious_Opposition_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:51" }, { "id": "b447dcf1-49a4-4459-b8dd-16010151b801", "slug": "with-the-rise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman/technopoly/with-the-rise", "text": "With the rise of Technopoly, one of those thought-worlds disappears. Technopoly eliminates alternatives to itself in precisely the way Aldous Huxley outlined in Brave New World. It does not make them illegal. It does not make them immoral. It does not even make them unpopular. It makes them invisible and therefore irrelevant. And it does so by redefining what we mean by religion, by art, by family, by politics, by history, by truth, by privacy, by intelligence, so that our definitions fit its new requirements. Technopoly, in other words, is totalitarian technocracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Postman", "slug": "neil-postman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman" }, "book": { "title": "Technopoly", "slug": "technopoly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman/technopoly" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" }, { "name": "technological progress", "slug": "technological-progress", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technological-progress" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Postman#Technopoly:_the_Surrender_of_Culture_to_Technology_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:39" }, { "id": "0eab86e4-b6c2-449d-9f35-0533b088a9f9", "slug": "what-orwell-feared", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman/amusing-ourselves-to-death/what-orwell-feared", "text": "What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny \"failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions\". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Postman", "slug": "neil-postman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman" }, "book": { "title": "Amusing Ourselves to Death", "slug": "amusing-ourselves-to-death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman/amusing-ourselves-to-death" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" }, { "name": "play", "slug": "play", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/play" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Postman#Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death:_Public_Discourse_in_the_Age_of_Show_Business_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:39" }, { "id": "9d9389e1-6859-4c22-967c-1a57fa9470c8", "slug": "if-you-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/diary-of-a-bad-year/if-you-have", "text": "If you have reservations about the system and want to change it, the democratic argument goes, do so within the system: put yourself forward as a candidate for political office, subject yourself to the scrutiny and the vote of fellow citizens. Democracy does not allow for politics outside the democratic system. In this sense, democracy is totalitarian.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "J. M. Coetzee", "slug": "j-m-coetzee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee" }, "book": { "title": "Diary of a Bad Year", "slug": "diary-of-a-bad-year", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/diary-of-a-bad-year" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 15, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "democracy", "slug": "democracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Coetzee#Diary_of_a_Bad_Year_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:33" }, { "id": "2bbf4faa-735c-4e80-813d-754cfd706007", "slug": "derbeck-is-a-theocracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow/derbeck-is-a-theocracy", "text": "Derbeck is a theocracy based on religious and political orthodoxy. Arbitrary executions and torture are integral to such systems.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Sideshow", "slug": "sideshow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 166, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Sideshow_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:23" }, { "id": "c2ec0f33-edec-4b61-8b6b-cf6a5209d0ea", "slug": "the-essence-of-totalitarian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/eichmann-in-jerusalem/the-essence-of-totalitarian", "text": "The essence of totalitarian government, and perhaps the nature of every bureaucracy, is to make functionaries and mere cogs in the administrative machinery out of men, and thus to dehumanise them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hannah Arendt", "slug": "hannah-arendt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt" }, "book": { "title": "Eichmann in Jerusalem", "slug": "eichmann-in-jerusalem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/eichmann-in-jerusalem" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "bureaucracy", "slug": "bureaucracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/bureaucracy" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt#Eichmann_in_Jerusalem_:_A_Report_on_the_Banality_of_Evil_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:23" }, { "id": "7ebea635-2ef9-49cc-afd1-6c401ad9b554", "slug": "the-ideal-subject", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/the-origins-of-totalitarianism/the-ideal-subject", "text": "The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hannah Arendt", "slug": "hannah-arendt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt" }, "book": { "title": "The Origins of Totalitarianism", "slug": "the-origins-of-totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/the-origins-of-totalitarianism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt#The_Origins_of_Totalitarianism_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:23" }, { "id": "61f388a2-0399-44d4-83a0-a118d6c6f80a", "slug": "totalitarianism-in-power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/the-origins-of-totalitarianism/totalitarianism-in-power", "text": "Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hannah Arendt", "slug": "hannah-arendt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt" }, "book": { "title": "The Origins of Totalitarianism", "slug": "the-origins-of-totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/the-origins-of-totalitarianism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" }, { "name": "loyalty", "slug": "loyalty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loyalty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt#The_Origins_of_Totalitarianism_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:23" }, { "id": "4b8d91a8-754c-4063-ab53-07de5d6bbbfd", "slug": "the-concentration-camps", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/the-origins-of-totalitarianism/the-concentration-camps", "text": "The concentration camps, by making death itself anonymous (making it impossible to find out whether a prisoner is dead or alive), robbed death of its meaning as the end of a fulfilled life. In a sense they took away the individual’s own death, proving that henceforth nothing belonged to him and he belonged to no one. His death merely set a seal on the fact that he had never existed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hannah Arendt", "slug": "hannah-arendt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt" }, "book": { "title": "The Origins of Totalitarianism", "slug": "the-origins-of-totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/the-origins-of-totalitarianism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt#The_Origins_of_Totalitarianism_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:23" }, { "id": "2a2d4449-ab33-4671-8519-2dd64cb6f636", "slug": "the-totalitarian-attempt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/the-origins-of-totalitarianism/the-totalitarian-attempt", "text": "The totalitarian attempt at global conquest and total domination has been the destructive way out of all impasses. Its victory may coincide with the destruction of humanity; wherever it has ruled, it has begun to destroy the essence of man. Yet to turn our backs on the destructive forces of the century is of little avail. The trouble is that our period has so strangely intertwined the good with the bad that without the imperialists' \"expansion for expansion's sake,\" the world might never have become one; without the bourgeoisie's political device of \"power for power's sake,\" the extent of human strength might never have been discovered; without the fictitious world of totalitarian movements, in which with unparalleled clarity the essential uncertainties of our time have been spelled out, we might have been driven to our doom without ever becoming aware of what has been happening. And if it is true that in the final stages of totalitarianism an absolute evil appears (absolute because it can no longer be deduced from humanly comprehensible motives), it is also true that without it we might never have known the truly radical nature of Evil.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hannah Arendt", "slug": "hannah-arendt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt" }, "book": { "title": "The Origins of Totalitarianism", "slug": "the-origins-of-totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/the-origins-of-totalitarianism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt#The_Origins_of_Totalitarianism_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:23" }, { "id": "0d853d2e-babd-4bd1-8a23-b40bb8264610", "slug": "the-totalitarian-movements", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/the-origins-of-totalitarianism/the-totalitarian-movements", "text": "The totalitarian movements aim at and succeed in organizing masses—not classes, like the old interest parties of the Continental nation-states; not citizens with opinions about, interests in, the handling of public affairs, like the parties of Anglo-Saxon countries.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hannah Arendt", "slug": "hannah-arendt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt" }, "book": { "title": "The Origins of Totalitarianism", "slug": "the-origins-of-totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/the-origins-of-totalitarianism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt#The_Origins_of_Totalitarianism_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:23" }, { "id": "0209c564-235b-4783-80ba-4ffa44a9e19f", "slug": "nobody-can-rule", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/the-sublime-object-of-ideology/nobody-can-rule", "text": "'Nobody can rule innocently,' as Saint-Just puts it. And in totalitarianism, the Party becomes again the very subject who, being the immediate embodiment of the People can rule innocently. It is not by accident that the real-socialist countries call themselves 'people's democracies.'", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Slavoj Žižek", "slug": "slavoj-zizek", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek" }, "book": { "title": "The Sublime Object of Ideology", "slug": "the-sublime-object-of-ideology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/the-sublime-object-of-ideology" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Slavoj_%C5%BDi%C5%BEek#The_Sublime_Object_of_Ideology_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:18" }, { "id": "50bfbc58-fa70-49da-b470-516b1e8d2d0c", "slug": "what-is-really", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/the-sublime-object-of-ideology/what-is-really", "text": "What is really disturbing about The Name of the Rose, however, is the underlying belief in the liberating, anti-totalitarian force of laughter, of ironic distance. Our thesis here is almost the exact opposite of the underlying premise of Eco's novel: in contemporary socities, democratic or totalitarian, that cynical distance, laughter, irony, are so to speak, part of the game. The ruling ideology is not meant to be taken seriously or literally. Perhaps the greatest danger for totalitarianism is people who take ideology seriously.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Slavoj Žižek", "slug": "slavoj-zizek", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek" }, "book": { "title": "The Sublime Object of Ideology", "slug": "the-sublime-object-of-ideology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/the-sublime-object-of-ideology" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 27, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" }, { "name": "ideology", "slug": "ideology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Slavoj_%C5%BDi%C5%BEek#The_Sublime_Object_of_Ideology_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:17" }, { "id": "dd1b293f-391f-4fc5-861d-8cf2e38f7576", "slug": "everything-not-forbidden", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/t-h-white/the-sword-in-the-stone/everything-not-forbidden", "text": "EVERYTHING NOT FORBIDDEN IS COMPULSORY", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "T. H. White", "slug": "t-h-white", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/t-h-white" }, "book": { "title": "The Sword in the Stone", "slug": "the-sword-in-the-stone", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/t-h-white/the-sword-in-the-stone" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Once_and_Future_King#The_Sword_in_the_Stone_(1938)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:10" }, { "id": "c5c6dafc-17e7-428e-8c46-ea0c63b0a3b7", "slug": "i-think-perhaps", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow/i-think-perhaps", "text": "I think perhaps of all the things a police state can do to its citizens, distorting history is possibly the most pernicious.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "The Past Through Tomorrow", "slug": "the-past-through-tomorrow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 401, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#The_Past_Through_Tomorrow_(1967)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:56" }, { "id": "b167343c-c7cc-4fc5-bb38-7e13a75b58dd", "slug": "repression-for-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky/terrorism-and-communism/repression-for-the", "text": "Repression for the attainment of economic ends is a necessary weapon of the socialist dictatorship.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Leon Trotsky", "slug": "leon-trotsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky" }, "book": { "title": "Terrorism and Communism", "slug": "terrorism-and-communism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky/terrorism-and-communism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 153, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky#Terrorism_and_Communism_(1920)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:45" }, { "id": "9d41af6a-b50d-4bda-8ade-d13f02a8a24e", "slug": "the-dictatorship-is-necessary", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky/terrorism-and-communism/the-dictatorship-is-necessary", "text": "The dictatorship is necessary because it is a case, not of partial changes, but of the very existence of the bourgeoisie. No agreement is possible on this ground. Only force can be the deciding factor.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Leon Trotsky", "slug": "leon-trotsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky" }, "book": { "title": "Terrorism and Communism", "slug": "terrorism-and-communism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky/terrorism-and-communism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky#Terrorism_and_Communism_(1920)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:45" }, { "id": "1203a172-df1e-4b03-a7f8-d1f345c8b0e6", "slug": "the-trouble-with", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pg-wodehouse/the-code-of-the-woosters/the-trouble-with", "text": "The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting ‘Heil, Spode!’ and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: ‘Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "P.G. Wodehouse", "slug": "pg-wodehouse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pg-wodehouse" }, "book": { "title": "The Code of the Woosters", "slug": "the-code-of-the-woosters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pg-wodehouse/the-code-of-the-woosters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._G._Wodehouse#The_Code_of_the_Woosters_(1938)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:32" }, { "id": "d18e84fe-efdc-4066-9b96-5a997ae5d8ff", "slug": "it-is-usual", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/the-road-to-wigan-pier/it-is-usual", "text": "It is usual to speak of the Fascist objective as the \"beehive state\", which does grave injustice to bees. A world of rabbits ruled by stoats would be nearer the mark.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "The Road to Wigan Pier", "slug": "the-road-to-wigan-pier", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/the-road-to-wigan-pier" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Road_to_Wigan_Pier#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:51" }, { "id": "88a9025e-54e6-41c5-a88d-9ebc2dd41d07", "slug": "that-was-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/jailbird/that-was-the", "text": "\"That was the strength of the Nazis,\" she said. \"They understood God better than anyone. They knew how to make him stay away.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Jailbird", "slug": "jailbird", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/jailbird" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Jailbird_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:41" }, { "id": "5d72eb93-20b2-436f-b9d3-d7b7a4d1e9e1", "slug": "ask-yourself-why", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-virtue-of-selfishness/ask-yourself-why", "text": "Ask yourself why totalitarian dictatorships find it necessary to pour money and effort into propaganda for their own helpless, chained, gagged slaves, who have no means of protest or defense. The answer is that even the humblest peasant or the lowest savage would rise in blind rebellion, were he to realize that he is being immolated, not to some incomprehensible noble purpose, but to plain, naked human evil.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Virtue of Selfishness", "slug": "the-virtue-of-selfishness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-virtue-of-selfishness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#The_Virtue_of_Selfishness_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:52" }, { "id": "1b8f0820-92f8-4fe7-8b91-a22b1c26b810", "slug": "this-is-just", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-brodsky/less-than-one/this-is-just", "text": "This is just one example of the trimming of the self that — along with the language itself, where verbs and nouns changed places as freely as one dare to have them do so — bred in us such an overpowering sense of ambivalence that in ten years we ended up with a willpower in no way superior to a seaweed’s.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Brodsky", "slug": "joseph-brodsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-brodsky" }, "book": { "title": "Less Than One", "slug": "less-than-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-brodsky/less-than-one" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 14, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" }, { "name": "willpower", "slug": "willpower", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Brodsky#Less_Than_One:_Selected_Essays_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:16" }, { "id": "ee50638e-3998-4b19-9421-197f040a9eb9", "slug": "you-are-under", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/you-are-under", "text": "You are under the impression that hatred is more exhausting than love. Why should it be? And if it were, what difference would that make? Suppose that we choose to wear ourselves out faster. Suppose that we quicken the tempo of human life till men are senile at thirty. Still what difference would it make? Can you not understand that the death of the individual is not death? The party is immortal.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "hatred", "slug": "hatred", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hatred" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "e4865ae4-5333-4b58-a991-73e75215ed77", "slug": "there-will-be-no-curiosity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/there-will-be-no-curiosity", "text": "There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "the future", "slug": "the-future", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "d8767673-3adb-45de-a0b1-110682777cf9", "slug": "the-command-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/the-command-of-the", "text": "The command of the old despotisms was Thou Shalt Not. The command of the totalitarians was Thou Shalt. Our command is Thou Art. No one whom we bring to this place ever stands out against us. Everyone is washed clean.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "d567e200-e3f3-44b2-9b5c-dcdcfe2f1aac", "slug": "if-you-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/if-you-are", "text": "If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man. Your kind is extinct; we are the inheritors. Do you understand that you are alone? You are outside history, you are non-existent.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "cdaaeff5-d8cb-42c5-9447-7feb5f836c64", "slug": "we-shall-abolish", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/we-shall-abolish", "text": "We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "c74bf86e-fdf0-4f36-8e90-e2b23971785b", "slug": "doublethink-means-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/doublethink-means-the", "text": "DOUBLETHINK means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. The Party intellectual knows in which direction his memories must be altered; he therefore knows that he is playing tricks with reality; but by the exercise of DOUBLETHINK he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated. The process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" }, { "name": "self-deception", "slug": "self-deception", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-deception" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_9", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "c45507a0-302d-4329-97ff-196d9dca9318", "slug": "how-can-i-help", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/how-can-i-help", "text": "\"How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four.\" \"Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "madness", "slug": "madness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "b9dcb265-43a7-46ef-93a3-4b73af05e776", "slug": "with-that-first", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/with-that-first", "text": "With that first blow on the elbow the nightmare had started. Later he was to realize that all that then happened was merely a preliminary, a routine interrogation to which nearly all prisoners were subjected. There was a long range of crimes — espionage, sabotage, and the like — to which everyone had to confess as a matter of course. The confession was a formality, though the torture was real. How many times he had been beaten, how long the beatings had continued, he could not remember.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" }, { "name": "torture", "slug": "torture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/torture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "b449ebe9-7a15-42b4-b5d0-aa2debbd9a23", "slug": "we-are-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/we-are-the", "text": "We are the priests of power. God is power. But at present power is only a word so far as you are concerned. It is time for you to gather some idea of what power means. The first thing you must realize is that power is collective. The individual only has power in so far as he ceases to be an individual. You know the Party slogan: \"Freedom is Slavery\". Has it ever occurred to you that it is reversible? Slavery is freedom. Alone — free — the human being is always defeated. It must be so, because every human being is doomed to die, which is the greatest of all failures. But if he can make complete, utter submission, if he can escape from his identity, if he can merge himself in the Party so that he is the Party, then he is all-powerful and immortal.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "a84b6900-c0e2-4d58-a85a-c9509b67df7e", "slug": "crimestop-in-short", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/crimestop-in-short", "text": "Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_9", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "a257c36e-10eb-48f5-8440-9218a631e42a", "slug": "the-mutability-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/the-mutability-of-the", "text": "The mutability of the past is the central tenet of Ingsoc. Past events, it is argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in written records and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the past", "slug": "the-past", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past" }, { "name": "manipulation", "slug": "manipulation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/manipulation" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_9", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "9f62a88c-126c-41f0-9cb9-0651e98ebdb0", "slug": "it-was-curious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/it-was-curious", "text": "It was curious how that beetle-like type proliferated in the Ministries: little dumpy men, growing stout very early in life, with short legs, swift scuttling movements, and fat inscrutable faces with very small eyes. It was the type that seemed to flourish best under the dominion of the Party.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_5", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:13" }, { "id": "24fb710a-147a-4aad-83e3-c127c9eafb99", "slug": "the-reality-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/the-reality-was", "text": "The reality was decaying, dingy cities where underfed people shuffled to and fro in leaky shoes, in patched-up nineteenth-century houses that smelt always of cabbage and bad lavatories.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "poverty", "slug": "poverty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poverty" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_7", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:13" }, { "id": "52c07fa5-4845-4cb3-a6aa-0872cc06a5d9", "slug": "it-was-a-bright", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/it-was-a-bright", "text": "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "literature", "slug": "literature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature" }, { "name": "totalitarianism", "slug": "totalitarianism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_1", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:12" } ] }