I seem to be developing an odd hobby: Tracking down ubiquitous internet quotes. There are so many bits of wisdom(?) posted in memes and cited merely as “John Chrysostom” or “Augustine” but with no indication what work is actually being quoted. These copypasted quotes spread like measles in an unvaccinated population. And quite a lot of those quotes turn out to be utterly fictitious or merely paraphrased out of shape.
Here’s one I saw today, allegedly from George Orwell:
“It’s not so much staying alive, it’s staying human that’s important. What counts is that we don’t betray each other.
Another version is so mangled as to convey nothing at all:
“So long as human beings stay human, death and life are the same thing.”
I had a look in the Orwell texts available to me and did not find these quotes. But in time I did find where this string of text originated: In this online essay summarizing Orwell’s 1984, Winston’s Relationship With Big Brother In 1984 (available to paid subscribers.) I suspect English teachers have this quote on a list of tells indicating a student is cheating. Caveat fraudator.
Incidentally, after searching more closely through 1984, I found something: Here is the actual passage being summarized, from chapter 7 of the novel. It’s considerably more grim and less amenable to glib meme-posting.
‘The proles are human beings,’ he said aloud. ‘We are not human.’
‘Why not?’ said Julia, who had woken up again.
He thought for a little while. ‘Has it ever occurred to you,’ he said,
‘that the best thing for us to do would be simply to walk out of here
before it’s too late, and never see each other again?’‘Yes, dear, it has occurred to me, several times. But I’m not going to do
it, all the same.’‘We’ve been lucky,’ he said ‘but it can’t last much longer. You’re young.
You look normal and innocent. If you keep clear of people like me, you
might stay alive for another fifty years.’‘No. I’ve thought it all out. What you do, I’m going to do. And don’t be
too downhearted. I’m rather good at staying alive.’‘We may be together for another six months–a year–there’s no knowing.
At the end we’re certain to be apart. Do you realize how utterly alone we
shall be? When once they get hold of us there will be nothing, literally
nothing, that either of us can do for the other. If I confess, they’ll
shoot you, and if I refuse to confess, they’ll shoot you just the same.
Nothing that I can do or say, or stop myself from saying, will put off
your death for as much as five minutes. Neither of us will even know
whether the other is alive or dead. We shall be utterly without power of
any kind. The one thing that matters is that we shouldn’t betray one
another, although even that can’t make the slightest difference.’‘If you mean confessing,’ she said, ‘we shall do that, right enough.
Everybody always confesses. You can’t help it. They torture you.’‘I don’t mean confessing. Confession is not betrayal. What you say or do
doesn’t matter: only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving
you–that would be the real betrayal.’She thought it over. ‘They can’t do that,’ she said finally. ‘It’s the one
thing they can’t do. They can make you say anything–ANYTHING–but they
can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you.’‘No,’ he said a little more hopefully, ‘no; that’s quite true. They can’t
get inside you. If you can FEEL that staying human is worth while, even
when it can’t have any result whatever, you’ve beaten them.’
