Did George Orwell Say: I

Did George Orwell say ‘People Sleep Peacefully in Their Beds at Night Only Because Rough Men Stand Ready to Do Violence on Their Behalf’?

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No: the closest that Orwell came to that sentence can be found in two of his remarks made three years apart:-

‘He sees clearly that men can only be highly civilised while other men, inevitably less civilised, are there to guard and feed them.’

(Rudyard Kipling, 1942)

‘… a fact which it is impossible for that type of nationalist to accept …

PACIFIST. Those who “abjure” violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf.’

(Notes on Nationalism, 1945)

This ‘quoteinvestigator.’ column examines how the misunderstanding came about.