"Brave New World" Quotes
In a dystopian society, a man struggles to navigate a world ruled by technological advancement, social conditioning, and the suppression of individuality.
classics | 290 pages | Published in 2004
Quotes
Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly—they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.
But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.
Maybe you’re right, Bernard,
I ate civilization. It poisoned me; I was defiled. And then,
Civilization is sterilization.
Ending is better than mending.
The world’s stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get. They’re well off; they’re safe; they’re never ill; they’re not afraid of death; they’re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers; they’ve got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they’re so conditioned that they practically can’t help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there’s soma.
Civilization has absolutely no need of nobility or heroism. These things are symptoms of political inefficiency. In a properly organized society like ours, nobody has any opportunities for being noble or heroic.
The greater a man's talents, the greater his power to lead astray.
The optimum population is modeled on the iceberg—eight-ninths below the water line, one-ninth above.
