--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It was a bright cold day in April, and…" description: "\"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.\" — George Orwell" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ca/george-orwell-57_april_it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-th_2609942.jpg" --- # It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were… ![“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” quote by George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ca/george-orwell-57_april_it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-th_2609942.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ca/george-orwell-57_april_it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-th_2609942.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ca/george-orwell-57_april_it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-th_2609942.jpg) > “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A bright, cold April day is juxtaposed with the absurdity of clocks striking thirteen, highlighting a dystopian reality. **In simple terms:** The setting feels both vivid and unsettling. Key Takeaway Notice contradictions in oppressive societies. Themes dystopia surrealism time Mood eerie thoughtful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - literary analysis - political commentary - creative writing Key Concepts authoritarianism illusion chronology Questions to Reflect On - What does the impossible time symbolize? - How does setting affect mood? A Different Perspective Some may view the line as purely stylistic. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [April](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/april/) [Clock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clock/) [Cold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cold/) [Cold days](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cold-days/) [Dystopia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dystopia/) [Thirteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thirteen/) ## Related quotes > [“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. It was the future, and everything sucked.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-nagan/it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-the-clocks-were-striking-3/) Greg Nagan > [Believe me, it would be a long, long, cold day before I decide to warm up next to Rupert Murdoch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irwin-winkler/believe-me-it-would-be-a-long-long-cold-day-before-i-decide-to-warm/) [Irwin Winkler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irwin-winkler/) > [If I write that it was a cold day, you can be sure I know it was a cold day because Pepys told us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonia-fraser/if-i-write-that-it-was-a-cold-day-you-can-be-sure-i-know-it-was-a/) [Antonia Fraser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonia-fraser/) > [But I like being nasty. I like being cranky. Especially if it's a cold day in Chicago, it's nice to just take it out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fisher-stevens/but-i-like-being-nasty-i-like-being-cranky-especially-if-it-s-a-cold/) [Fisher Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fisher-stevens/) > [It was a cold day but the sun was out and the trees were like great bonfires against gray distant fields and hills.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherwood-anderson/it-was-a-cold-day-but-the-sun-was-out-and-the-trees-were-like-great/) [Sherwood Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherwood-anderson/) > [Sometimes, in a moral struggle, we discover the right thing to do - just as, on some cold day long ago, we discovered mittens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/sometimes-in-a-moral-struggle-we-discover-the-right-thing-to-do-just/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [“This thing was power from the Outside, and I was a grain of sand to its oncoming tide. But you know what? That grain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-butcher/this-thing-was-power-from-the-outside-and-i-was-a-grain-of-sand-to/) [Jim Butcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-butcher/) > [“Daddy didn’t say anything for a minute or so, and then he reached up and caught a firefly as it glowed beside him. “See…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-erin-valent/daddy-didn-t-say-anything-for-a-minute-or-so-and-then-he-reached-up/) [Jennifer Erin Valent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-erin-valent/) > [“All farms require a resident dreamer, someone to thumb through seed catalogs in the cold days of late January, imagining summer fields of squash…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/forrest-pritchard/all-farms-require-a-resident-dreamer-someone-to-thumb-through-seed/) Forrest Pritchard > [As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-ingalls-wilder/as-the-years-pass-i-am-coming-more-and-more-to-understand-that-it-is/) [Laura Ingalls Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-ingalls-wilder/) > [“It’s like a broken bone that never healed quite right. An ache that I feel on cold days when the chill of your memory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liz-newman/it-s-like-a-broken-bone-that-never-healed-quite-right-an-ache-that-i/) [Liz Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liz-newman/) > [“That light is bright enough to light up a little speck of the night sky so a man can see it a ways away.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-erin-valent/that-light-is-bright-enough-to-light-up-a-little-speck-of-the-night/) [Jennifer Erin Valent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-erin-valent/) > [Our children will be born of our actions. Our accidents will become their destinies. Oh, the actions will remain. It is a simple matter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/our-children-will-be-born-of-our-actions-our-accidents-will-become/) [Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/) > [Blustery cold days should be spend propped up in bed with a mug of hot chocolate and a pile of comic books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-watterson/blustery-cold-days-should-be-spend-propped-up-in-bed-with-a-mug-of/) [Bill Watterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-watterson/) > [“she found herself looking down on the top of Teenie's head; at a small woollen bobble, in fact, which topped a curious tea-cosy style…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-mccall-smith/she-found-herself-looking-down-on-the-top-of-teenie-s-head-at-a-small/) [Alexander McCall Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-mccall-smith/) ## More by George Orwell > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [It was given out that the animals there practised cannibalism, tortured one another with red-hot horseshoes, and had their females in common. This was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-was-given-out-that-the-animals-there-practised-cannibalism/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“The actual writing would be easy. All he had to do was to transfer to paper the interminable restless monologue that had been running…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/the-actual-writing-would-be-easy-all-he-had-to-do-was-to-transfer-to/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [He felt as though he were wandering in the forests of the sea bottom, lost in a monstrous world where he himself was the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/he-felt-as-though-he-were-wandering-in-the-forests-of-the-sea-bottom/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“if you took 1 Corinthians, chapter thirteen, and in every verse wrote 'money' instead of 'charity', the chapter had ten times as much meaning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/if-you-took-1-corinthians-chapter-thirteen-and-in-every-verse-wrote/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Happiness can exist only in acceptance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/happiness-can-exist-only-in-acceptance/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/and-if-all-others-accepted-the-lie-which-the-party-imposed-if-all/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“Whitman himself "accepted" a great deal that his contemporaries found unmentionable. For he is not only writing of the prairie, he also wanders through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/whitman-himself-accepted-a-great-deal-that-his-contemporaries-found/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Whatever the Party holds to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/but-i-tell-you-winston-that-reality-is-not-external-reality-exists-in/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“And the people under the sky were also very much the same...everywhere, all over the world, hundreds or thousands of millions of people just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/and-the-people-under-the-sky-were-also-very-much-the-same-everywhere/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/don-t-you-see-that-the-whole-aim-of-newspeak-is-to-narrow-the-range/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would go on as it had always gone on--that is, badly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/windmill-or-no-windmill-he-said-life-would-go-on-as-it-had-always/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/man-is-the-only-creature-that-consumes-without-producing-he-does-not/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [And the bigger the fall, the bigger the joke. It would be better fun to throw a custard pie at a bishop than at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/and-the-bigger-the-fall-the-bigger-the-joke-it-would-be-better-fun-to/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“Any writer or journalist who wants to retain his integrity finds himself thwarted by the general drift of society rather than by active persecution.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/any-writer-or-journalist-who-wants-to-retain-his-integrity-finds/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) [Explore all 1,657 George Orwell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) ## More April quotes > [“I had a chat with May and I had a sweet talk with April but the lovely conversation that left me to ponder was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-agyemang-yeboah/i-had-a-chat-with-may-and-i-had-a-sweet-talk-with-april-but-the/) [Ernest Agyemang Yeboah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-agyemang-yeboah/) > [It might interest you that just as the U.S. was ramping up its involvement in Vietnam, LBJ launched an illegal invasion of the Dominican…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/it-might-interest-you-that-just-as-the-u-s-was-ramping-up-its/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [Two things you need to know about taxes. They've extended the deadline to April 18, and when you write your check, just make it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-letterman/two-things-you-need-to-know-about-taxes-they-ve-extended-the-deadline/) [David Letterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-letterman/) > [Why should I deem myself to be a chisel, when I could be the artist?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schiller/why-should-i-deem-myself-to-be-a-chisel-when-i-could-be-the-artist/) [Friedrich Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schiller/) > [The air soft as that of Seville in April, and so fragrant that it was delicious to breathe it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-columbus/the-air-soft-as-that-of-seville-in-april-and-so-fragrant-that-it-was/) [Christopher Columbus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-columbus/) > [Our opponents see an America in which every day is April 15, tax day. Well, we see an America in which every day is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/our-opponents-see-an-america-in-which-every-day-is-april-15-tax-day/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/here-cometh-april-again-and-as-far-as-i-can-see-the-world-hath-more/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [It felt like 10 years, but I was actually in treatment for three-and-a-half years. I finally finished in April. Two years ago, I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suleika-jaouad/it-felt-like-10-years-but-i-was-actually-in-treatment-for-three-and-a/) [Suleika Jaouad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suleika-jaouad/) > [The air is like a butterfly With frail blue wings. The happy earth looks at the sky And sings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-kilmer/the-air-is-like-a-butterfly-with-frail-blue-wings-the-happy-earth/) [Joyce Kilmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-kilmer/) > [At 1.24 am on 26 April 1986 Chernobyl’s Unit 4 reactor exploded after staff disabled safety systems and performed an ill-advised experiment to check…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-lynas/at-1-24-am-on-26-april-1986-chernobyl-s-unit-4-reactor-exploded-after/) [Mark Lynas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-lynas/) > [People born in April are very loving and caring people. They are the ones who have the best memories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/people-born-in-april-are-very-loving-and-caring-people-they-are-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Ah, March! we know thou art Kind-hearted, spite of ugly looks and threats, And, out of sight, art nursing April's violets!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-hunt-jackson/ah-march-we-know-thou-art-kind-hearted-spite-of-ugly-looks-and/) [Helen Hunt Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-hunt-jackson/) > [I know April, May and June are a few unbearable months, and working out in a gym and sweating in such dirty hot, sticky,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashish-sharma/i-know-april-may-and-june-are-a-few-unbearable-months-and-working-out/) [Ashish Sharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashish-sharma/) > [Men are April when they woo, December when they wed...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/men-are-april-when-they-woo-december-when-they-wed/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Oh, to be in England Now that April's there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-browning/oh-to-be-in-england-now-that-april-s-there-and-whoever-wakes-in/) [Robert Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-browning/) [Browse all 567 April quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/april/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Orwell" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-the-clocks-were-striking-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "April" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-the-clocks-were-striking-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ca/george-orwell-57_april_it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-th_2609942.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ca/george-orwell-57_april_it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-th_2609942.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ca/george-orwell-57_april_it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-th_2609942.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” — George Orwell", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "George Orwell", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It was a bright cold day...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-the-clocks-were-striking-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-was-a-bright-cold-day-in-april-and-the-clocks-were-striking-2/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```