“[Hitler] has grasped the falsity of the hedonistic attitude to life. Nearly all western thought since the last war, certainly all “progressive” thought, has assumed tacitly that human beings desire nothing beyond ease, security, and avoidance of pain. In such a view of life there is no room, for instance, for patriotism and the military virtues. Hitler, because in his own joyless mind he feels it with exceptional strength, knows that human beings don’t only want comfort, safety, short working-hours, hygiene, birth-control and, in general, common sense; they also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice, not to mention drums, flag and loyalty-parades ... Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a grudging way, have said to people “I offer you a good time,” Hitler has said to them “I offer you struggle, danger and death,” and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet”

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About George Orwell

English writer and journalist of the 20th century, Orwell is best known for his dystopian novels *Nineteen Eighty-Four* and *Animal Farm*, which critique totalitarianism and power. His essays on politics, language, and society remain influential for their clarity and moral urgency.

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"[Hitler] has grasped the falsity of the hedonistic attitude to life.…" — George Orwell | Daily Quotes