The Last Man

“Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. In our world, there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy—everything. We will break down the habits of thought. We will cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one will dare trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future, there will be no wives and no friends. Children will be taken from their mothers at birth, as one takes eggs from a hen. The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards Big Brother. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, no art, no literature, no science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”

George Orwell