“War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength.” (Chapter unknown) (Quote not attributable to any character)

These core slogans of the Party are also examples of doublespeak. They also amply illustrate the Party’s intentions and actions. The Party can suppress dissent effectively and maintain an appearance of peace only by claiming that Oceania is involved in war with the outside world. According to the Party, it is only when the subjects decide to give up their freedoms can they remain truly free. Finally, it is only because its subjects are forced to remain ignorant about the Party’s real history that there is strength in their unity.

“It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children.” (Chapter unknown) (Quote not attributable to any character)

The Party seeks to weaken the family unit. This is because familial bonds can introduce conflicts of interests and possibly weaken support for the Party. Accordingly, children are educated to see the Party as their true parents. In fact, children are even encouraged to betray their parents if they go against the Party’s agenda in any way.

“The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect.” (Chapter unknown)

Syme sums up the role of language thusly in 1984. Gaining control over language is essential for the Party because it ultimately aims to prevent people from having thoughts that could possibly endanger the regime. Such thoughts, the Party holds, can only arise if language is rich and malleable enough. Thus, the Party’s attempts at perfecting language are really attempts at narrowing its scope. By doing so, the Party aims to narrow the scope of thought itself.

• “Always in your stomach and in your skin there was a sort of protest, a feeling that you had been cheated of something you had a right to.”
• “I hate purity, I hate goodness. I don’t want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.”
• “History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
• “Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.”
• “Even in the instant of death we cannot permit any deviation.”
• “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”