Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
 George Orwell, 1984 (1949). copy citation

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Author George Orwell
Source 1984
Topic totalitarianism government power politics revolution
Date 1949
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt

Context

“They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order toestablish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?»
Winston was struck, as he had been struck before, by the tiredness of O'Brien's face.” source

Meaning and analysis

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