#dystopia

It was possible, no doubt, to imagine a society in which wealth, in the sense of personal possessions and luxuries, should be evenly distributed, while power remained in the hands of a small privileged caste. But in practice such a society could not long remain stable. For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realise that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance. ↗

— George Orwell

#fear-of-the-future #inequality #poverty #society #imagination

I swing my arms to loosen myself up. Place my fists on my hips. then drop them to my sides. Saliva's filling my mouth at a ridiculous rate and i feel vomit at the back of my throat. I swallow hard and open my lips so I can get the stupid line out and go hide in the woods and-that's when i start crying. ↗

— Suzanne Collins

#dystopia-fiction #paintings #teen-fiction #teen

There will come a time when it isn't 'They're spying on me through my phone' anymore. Eventually, it will be 'My phone is spying on me'. ↗

— Philip K. Dick

#liberty #spying #surveillance #surveillance-society #technology

I have a curse. I HAVE A GIFT. I'm a monster. I'M MORE THAN HUMAN. My touch Is lethal. MY TOUCH IS POWER. I am their weapon. I WILL FIGHT BACK. ↗

— Tahereh Mafi

#teen-fiction #teen

Your worst enemy, he reflected, was your nervous system. At any moment the tension inside you was liable to translate itself into some visible symptom. ↗

— George Orwell

#enemy

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. ↗

— George Orwell

#dystopia #first-sentence #opening-lines #day

Every faction conditions its members to think and act a certain way. And most people do it. For most people, it's not hard to learn, to find a pattern of thought that works and stay that way. But our minds move in a dozen different directions. We can't be confined to one way of thinking, and that terrifies our leaders. It means we can't be controlled. And it means that no matter what they do, we will always cause trouble for them. ↗

— Veronica Roth

#dystopia #thinking #trouble

Human reason can excuse any evil; that is why it's so important that we don't rely on it. ↗

— Veronica Roth

#reason

You talk as if a god had made the Machine," cried the other. "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that. Great men, but men. The Machine is much, but not everything. ↗

— E.M. Forster

#future #machine #science-fiction #men

Knowledge is dangerous. ↗

— Patrick Ness

#dystopian #young-adult #young-adult-fiction