What's your favorite quote from 1984?

Question

whats your favorite quote from the book 1984? explain the meaning of the quote.

Answer 1

The quote from "1984" that has had the most lasting impact upon me is, "WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."

The national slogan of the Party and Oceania, these words are inscribed in massive letters on the white pyramid of the Ministry of Truth. This chilling creed is the essence of "doublethink."  It represents the terrifying, awesome power of the Party to control its subjects by using a mass campaign of psychological control. The Party is able to force its subjects to accept whatever it decrees, no matter how absurd or illogical, by the ubiquity of its creed.

Does it make sense that the Ministry of Peace is in charge of waging war; that the Ministry of Love is in charge of political torture; and that the Ministry of Truth is in charge of doctoring history books to reflect the Party’s ideology?  Yes, IF THE MASSES can be "persuaded" to believe, for example, that SLAVERY IS FREEDOM - That the person subjected to the collective will is free from want and danger.  

The Party is able to maintain its authoritarian rule because the people are unable to recognize the contradictions of the creed.

We must be vigilant never to fall prey to the illogical, contradictory, mass psychological control of any person or entity.  Totalitarianism is not impossible; but it is our responsibility to guard against it.

Answer 2

"Until the become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious."

- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 7