--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Power is in inflicting pain and…" description: "\"“Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.”\" — George Orwell" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/928/george-orwell-57_humiliation_power-is-in-inflicting-pain-and-humiliat_2904018.jpg" --- # Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. ![“Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.” quote by George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/928/george-orwell-57_humiliation_power-is-in-inflicting-pain-and-humiliat_2904018.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/928/george-orwell-57_humiliation_power-is-in-inflicting-pain-and-humiliat_2904018.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/928/george-orwell-57_humiliation_power-is-in-inflicting-pain-and-humiliat_2904018.jpg) > ““Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.”” [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. Power is exercised through inflicting pain and humiliation on others. **In simple terms:** Power relies on causing suffering. Key Takeaway Reject oppressive tactics. Themes power humiliation politics Mood critical serious Type political philosophical When to use this quote - activism - human rights advocacy - policy analysis Key Concepts political theory ethics Questions to Reflect On - How does humiliation sustain authority? - What alternatives exist to wield power responsibly? A Different Perspective Power can also be exercised through consent. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Humiliation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humiliation/) [Inflicting pain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inflicting-pain/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Shame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shame/) ## Related quotes > [“No, no, no. I cannot be with someone who takes pleasure in inflicting pain on me, someone who can’t love me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-james/no-no-no-i-cannot-be-with-someone-who-takes-pleasure-in-inflicting/) [E.L. James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-james/) > [I cannot be with someone who takes pleasure in inflicting pain on me, someone who can't love me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-cannot-be-with-someone-who-takes-pleasure-in-inflicting-pain-on-me/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?“ Winston thought. “By making him suffer”, he said. “Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/how-does-one-man-assert-his-power-over-another-winston-winston-2/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [I admit there's an element of brutality in all my work - it's part of the truth about human existence I always want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-solondz/i-admit-there-s-an-element-of-brutality-in-all-my-work-it-s-part-of/) [Todd Solondz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-solondz/) > [I gave you justice, it said, as I was taught it. And I gave you mercy , too, so far as I could. While…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/i-gave-you-justice-it-said-as-i-was-taught-it-and-i-gave-you-mercy/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [“Pain and humiliation is always amusing when it happens to someone else.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eileen-cook/pain-and-humiliation-is-always-amusing-when-it-happens-to-someone-else/) [Eileen Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eileen-cook/) > [“Emily, thus dashed to earth, moved back to her seat in a daze. Her smitten cheek was crimson, but the wound was in her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-m-montgomery/emily-thus-dashed-to-earth-moved-back-to-her-seat-in-a-daze-her/) [L.M. Montgomery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-m-montgomery/) > [As the Ebola virus continued to consume my patients, I witnessed the horror this disease visits upon its victims, the intense pain and humiliation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kent-brantly/as-the-ebola-virus-continued-to-consume-my-patients-i-witnessed-the/) [Kent Brantly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kent-brantly/) > [Fate is not satisfied with inflicting one calamity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/publilius-syrus/fate-is-not-satisfied-with-inflicting-one-calamity/) [Publilius Syrus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/publilius-syrus/) > [Fortune is not satisfied with inflicting one calamity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/publilius-syrus/fortune-is-not-satisfied-with-inflicting-one-calamity/) [Publilius Syrus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/publilius-syrus/) > [Why bother inflicting enormous pain on yourself when sooner or later Life would certainly get around to doing it for you?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-lindsay/why-bother-inflicting-enormous-pain-on-yourself-when-sooner-or-later/) [Jeff Lindsay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-lindsay/) > [I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/i-believe-all-suffering-is-caused-by-ignorance/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [Read from a distant star, the majuscule script of our earthly existence would perhaps lead to the conclusion that the earth was the distinctively…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/read-from-a-distant-star-the-majuscule-script-of-our-earthly/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Slaves to my torment. Scream to your heart's content. Time and time againpPleasure in inflicting pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slayer/slaves-to-my-torment-scream-to-your-heart-s-content-time-and-time/) [Slayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slayer/) > [Children enjoy inflicting pain until unhappiness teaches them tenderness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/children-enjoy-inflicting-pain-until-unhappiness-teaches-them/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) ## 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 Humiliation quotes > [ I guarantee you \[Hillary Clinton\] is smoking in humiliation over the idea that she needs to heal and that \[Donald\] Trump's the guy to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/i-guarantee-you-hillary-clinton-is-smoking-in-humiliation-over-the/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [Most readers, then and now, have at some time experienced the humiliation of being told that their occupation is reprehensible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/most-readers-then-and-now-have-at-some-time-experienced-the/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [“Hmmm,” you muse out loud. Your voice is deep and carnal, a sound which sends new surges of desire rushing to my sex. “These…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felicity-brandon/hmmm-you-muse-out-loud-your-voice-is-deep-and-carnal-a-sound-which/) [Felicity Brandon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felicity-brandon/) > [We always have visions, before a thing is made real. When we realize that although the vision is real, it is not real in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/we-always-have-visions-before-a-thing-is-made-real-when-we-realize/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [Suddenly the full long wail of a ship's horn surged through the open window and flooded the dim room - a cry of boundless,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yukio-mishima/suddenly-the-full-long-wail-of-a-ship-s-horn-surged-through-the-open/) [Yukio Mishima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yukio-mishima/) > [For the sacrificed, in the hour of sacrifice, only one thing counts: faith-alone among enemies and skeptics. Faith, in spite of the humiliation which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dag-hammarskj-ld/for-the-sacrificed-in-the-hour-of-sacrifice-only-one-thing-counts/) [Dag Hammarskjold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dag-hammarskj-ld/) > [To be wise was to be above joy and sorrow, fear and pity, ambition and humiliation. It was to hate nothing and to love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ende/to-be-wise-was-to-be-above-joy-and-sorrow-fear-and-pity-ambition-and/) [Michael Ende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ende/) > [“My habitual mood of humiliation, self-doubt, forlorn depression, fell damp on the embers of my decaying ire.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/my-habitual-mood-of-humiliation-self-doubt-forlorn-depression-fell/) [Charlotte Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [You're allowed to make things for women on television, and there's not like... you don't have to go through the humiliation of having made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/callie-khouri/you-re-allowed-to-make-things-for-women-on-television-and-there-s-not/) [Callie Khouri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/callie-khouri/) > [“In comparison to what I've suffered from myself, the humiliation and suffering inflicted on me by others vanishes into insignificance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-comparison-to-what-i-ve-suffered-from-myself-the-humiliation-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I have been subjected to constant harassment and humiliation by Mr. Abad Ponda with his sexist remarks and insulting comments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rhea-pillai/i-have-been-subjected-to-constant-harassment-and-humiliation-by-mr/) [Rhea Pillai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rhea-pillai/) > [Food for her is not food, it is terror, dignity, gratitude, vengeance, joyfulness, humiliation, religion, history, and, of course, love. As if the fruit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/food-for-her-is-not-food-it-is-terror-dignity-gratitude-vengeance/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [Every acknowledgment of gratitude is a circumstance of humiliation; and some are found to submit to frequent mortifications of this kind, proclaiming what obligations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-goldsmith/every-acknowledgment-of-gratitude-is-a-circumstance-of-humiliation/) [Oliver Goldsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-goldsmith/) > [It is cruel for you to leave your daughter, so full of hopeand resolve, to suffer the humiliations of disfranchisement she already feels so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-b-anthony/it-is-cruel-for-you-to-leave-your-daughter-so-full-of-hopeand-resolve/) [Susan B. Anthony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-b-anthony/) > [Our Lord's descent from the holy heights of the Mount of Transfiguration was more than a physical return from greater to lesser altitudes; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-e-talmage/our-lord-s-descent-from-the-holy-heights-of-the-mount-of/) [James E. Talmage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-e-talmage/) [Browse all 651 Humiliation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humiliation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Orwell" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/power-is-in-inflicting-pain-and-humiliation/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Humiliation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/power-is-in-inflicting-pain-and-humiliation/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/928/george-orwell-57_humiliation_power-is-in-inflicting-pain-and-humiliat_2904018.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/928/george-orwell-57_humiliation_power-is-in-inflicting-pain-and-humiliat_2904018.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/928/george-orwell-57_humiliation_power-is-in-inflicting-pain-and-humiliat_2904018.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.” — 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": "“Power is in inflicting pain and...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/power-is-in-inflicting-pain-and-humiliation/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/power-is-in-inflicting-pain-and-humiliation/#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 } } ] } ```