WWGOS?
What Would George Orwell Say? Catherine Bennett of The Guardian writes about the use of quotations from George Orwell’s writings. Increasingly, she claims, Orwell quotes are the most promising secular substitute for Bible quotes.
Guilty as charged. I’ve probably used them one too many times as well. Writing about the English language? Check. Writing about nationalism? Check. Writing about disappearing civil liberties? Check.
Orwell quotes are like, to quote a non-Orwellian source, “the little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it, but you can’t;” they keep opening up before you.
Orwell quotes are such superb mini-stories that tell such a great deal in one or two sentences that it is hard to refrain from them. They are excellent examples to illustrate your point, just like the always popular Bible stories and proverbs, or even jokes and metaphors.
Ironically, Orwell did warn us about tiredness of certain phrases and metaphors: “a writer who stopped to think what he was saying would avoid perverting the original phrase.” Quoting Orwell is fine, but too many uses and especially thoughtless uses, might eventually dilute the strength of the words. It might be better to come up with your own stories, examples and metaphors, but in the end, it is hard to resist the authoritative power and enormous credibility of Orwell’s words.
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