Politics & Power Quote by George Orwell

Orwell skewers the most seductive alibi in political life: the idea that purity is proof. The line is built like a trap. It flatters the reader’s self-image first - you’re above “the ordinary dirtiness of politics,” you’re not in it for “material advantage” - then snaps shut with that final “surely,” a word that pretends to be common sense while exposing how often common sense is just vanity in a sensible coat.

The intent is surgical. Orwell isn’t accusing people of greed; he’s accusing them of using their lack of greed as moral credentialing. The subtext is that disinterest can become its own form of self-interest. If you’re not chasing money or office, you can start chasing something harder to question: righteousness. That’s where ideologies get dangerous, because the believer feels inoculated against criticism. Anyone who disagrees must be compromised, bought, or dirty.

Contextually, this fits Orwell’s lifelong war on cant - the pious language that launders power. Writing in the shadow of fascism and Stalinism, he watched “clean” creeds recruit ordinary people precisely by promising an escape from grubby compromise. When politics is framed as contamination, the zealot can present cruelty as hygiene and complexity as corruption.

The rhetorical trick is that Orwell poses a question whose answer is obviously “no,” but the real target is the reflex that wants to answer “yes.” He’s diagnosing a psychological shortcut: I sacrificed, therefore I’m correct. In Orwell’s world, that’s not virtue; it’s the first step toward fanaticism with good posture.