"There was of course no way of..." - Quote by George Orwell
There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live-did live, from habit that became instinct-in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.
More by George Orwell
“If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can't have any practical result whatsoever, you've beaten them.”
“The war is waged against its own subjects and its object is not the victory...but to keep the very structure of society intact.”
“I'm fat, but I'm thin inside... there's a thin man inside every fat man.”
More on Surveillance
“Effective immediately, we will only pursue phone calls that are two steps removed from a number associated with a terrorist organization instead of three.”
“On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.”
“Walls have tongues, and hedges ears.”