In A Time Of Deceit Telling

Despite its widespread circulation under Orwell's name, this quote has no verified source in his writings. Scholars including Dorian Lynskey, author of The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell's 1984, and the Orwell Society have confirmed it does not appear in any of his books, essays, or letters. The earliest known attribution to Orwell appeared in a 1982 book by Venturino Giorgio Venturini; the phrase may have evolved from a 1919 statement by Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci. Its Orwellian ring — thematically close to Nineteen Eighty-Four — explains why it attached so readily to his name.