The 63 best phrases from “Brave New World”

A happy world is a dystopian novel by the writer Aldous Huxley, first published in 1932. It is the author’s most famous novel and one of the best known of this type of fictional literature. His interest has not waned since its publicationespecially because of the parallels it makes with respect to recent times.

The work has been adapted to film, theater, television and even radio programs. Although many of these adaptations have been very popular, The general public and critics continue to support the book.

The phrases of A happy world They synthesize some of Huxley’s central ideas in relation to freedom, the state, totalitarianism, the individual and society in general.

The best phrases from “Brave New World”

Aldous Huxley wrote a dozen novels, several essays, short stories and poems. However, he is known throughout the world for being the author of A happy world.

Certainly, the impact of the work reaches to this day, and the continuous parallels with dystopian authors and with the present do not stop emerging. We leave you with the best phrases of A happy world, accompanied by interesting curiosities.

The original edition of Brave New World had 63,766 words spread over 311 pages.

1. “Words can be like x-rays if you use them correctly: they go through anything.”

The first version of the book was published in 1932 by the publisher Chatto & Windus.

2. “Never put off until tomorrow the fun you can have today.”

The novel was well received by the academic environment of its time. Among many others, Bertrand Russell and Rebecca West praised her.

3. “When people suspect you, you start to suspect them.”

The book suffered censorship in several countries due to its offensive language, racism, insensitivity and its explicit sex scenes; or at least they were the allegations of the moment. On many occasions, sections were edited to adapt it to the public, as happened in China.

4. “A man can smile and smile and be a villain.”

The work has been accused of plagiarism on certain occasions. Just to mention two cases, he is accused of plagiarizing What Not: A prophetic comedy (1918) and We (1921). George Orwell was one of those who alleged the strange coincidence with the latter.

5. “You believe things because you have been conditioned to believe them.”

In 1958, the author published New visit to a happy worlda collection of essays in which he analyzes the novel in depth.

6. “If you’re not different, then you’re bound to be lonely.”

In theory, and continuing with the style and themes of his previous novels, the work was intended only as a parody. In the end it ended up establishing itself as one of the most important titles in dystopian literature.

7. “I want to know what passion is. “I want to feel something strongly.”

Part of Huxley’s inspiration for writing the play was found on a trip between Singapore and the Philippines. He found on the ship a copy of Henry Ford’s book, My life and work (1922), which he used to build some ideas that would later become a book.

8. “I am claiming the right to be happy.”

Inspiration also came after a stay in San Francisco during 1920. There he was struck by the consumerism and debauchery of the city, key themes found in the phrases of A happy world.

9. “There is no social stability without individual stability.”

According to the author, he completed the work in just four months.

10. “We don’t want to change. “Every change is a threat to stability.”

Although he was interested in mysticism, in reality at the time of writing the work he did not conceive it as a prophetic title. However, as the years passed declared that he feared that his ideas were closer than ever to becoming reality.

11. “Pain is a fascinating horror.”

The work has been adapted to film several times. The first of them was made in 1980 and the second in 1998. Since then, series, plays, radio programs and more have been made. Adaptations continue to be made, one of the most recent is a series by NBC in 2020.

12. “I like to be myself. “Myself and unpleasant.”

The title of the work is taken from Miranda’s speech in The Tempest, by Shakespeare. The phrase is used in Act V, Scene I, in an ironic sense.

13. “But isn’t it natural to feel that there is a God?”

A happy world It was Huxley’s fifth work, so by then he already had a certain reputation as a writer. He wrote it in France in mid-1931..

14. “Real happiness always seems quite sordid compared to excessive compensations for misery.”

In his first satirical novel, Chrome Yellow, Huxley already makes an allusion to the dystopian work. This indicates that Huxley had already conceived the main ideas for 1921.

15. “It’s me, and I wish I wasn’t.”

As the author himself indicated, his direct influences were the works of HG Wells and DW Laurence.

16. “Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity to take things for granted.”

The work expresses the anxieties of the society of the moment. Economic crises, a galloping advance in technology and the commitment to mass thinking are among the main ones.

17. “I ate civilization, it poisoned me. I was defiled, and then I ate my own evil.”

Soma, the drug used by the State as a tool of control, is inspired by the Vedic ritual or drink of the same name.

18. “Great is the truth, but even greater, from a practical point of view, is the silence about the truth.”

Similarly, the Malthusian belt is inspired by a contemporary phenomenon. That is, in the ideas and projects of the Malthusian League.

19. “It is natural to believe in God when you are alone, completely alone, at night, thinking about death.”

The work has been compared to 1984 (1949), by George Orwell, repeatedly. Both to find parallels and to position one above the other in terms of technique and ideas.

20. “One of the main functions of a friend is to suffer (in a softer and more symbolic way) the punishments that we would like, but cannot, to inflict on our enemies.”

The BBC included the work among the 100 most influential of all time.

21. “Reality, however utopian, is something that makes people feel the need to take vacations quite often.”

Among other countries, the work was banned in India, Australia, Ireland and many parts of the United States.

22. “Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution.”

There are no allusions to genetic engineering because it was simply not known at the time. Keep in mind that the description of the structure of DNA was not made until 1953.

23. “Chronic remorse, as all moralists agree, is a most undesirable feeling.”

If it is based on the Gregorian calendar, the work is set in 2540 AD. c.

24. “But I don’t want comfort. “I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I want sin.”

Von Mises, the Austrian School economist, described the novel as a satire of the predictions of socialism.

25. “If you have behaved badly, repent, make amends as you can, and take on the task of behaving better next time.”

On the other hand, authors like Chesterton pointed out that it went against the era and the thinking of utopias. That is, thinking that man would solve all his problems and build a perfect, peaceful, cordial and stable society. The First World War destroyed this ideal.

26. “A truly efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political leaders and their army of administrators control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced because they love their servitude.”

Shortly before writing the work, the author visited the Billingham manufacturing plant in England. This was one of the most advanced in the world at the time, something that made a great impression on him.

27. “That is the secret of happiness and virtue: liking what you have to do.”

It is also important to remember that the author wrote the work just when the aftermath of the Great Depression was being experienced. In the United Kingdom these began to appear around 1930 and 1931.

28. “Universal happiness keeps the wheels turning constantly, truth and beauty cannot.”

Another direct influence of the work is Daedalusa scientific book published in 1924 in relation to skepticism of technological advances for the well-being of man.

29. “I’d rather be unhappy than have the kind of fake happiness you were having here.”

Often, the title of the book was adapted to satirical literary expressions well known to the academic environment. This is what happened in France, in relation to a quote from Voltaire in reference to Leibniz.

30. “Can you say something about nothing?”

The title has its counterpart, but this time, written under utopian criteria. It’s about the Island (1962), the writer’s last work before his death.

31. “What good is truth, beauty or knowledge when anthrax bombs explode around you?”

The first edition in Spanish was published in 1935 by Luys Sanra Marina. This was the only one available for over 30 years.

32. “Those who had good intentions behaved in the same way as those who had bad intentions.”

Tape Demolition man (1993) is partially inspired by the novel.

33. “Not only is art incompatible with happiness, but so is science.”

The song soma, by the North American band The Strokes, takes its name from the drug used to control the masses, described in the book.

34. “In a properly organized society like ours, no one has the opportunity to be noble or heroic.”

Marilyn Manson’s third album also devises a plot quite similar to the one outlined in the book.

35. “Man is an intelligence not served by, but in servitude to, his organs.”

Many cite Huxley as the precursor of transhumanist thought, which aspires to overcome physical and psychological limitations with science and technology.

36. “Generalities are intellectually necessary evils.”

Among many other contemporary authors who have cited Huxley as a direct influence, we highlight Michel Houellebecq.

37. “As political and economic freedom decreases, sexual freedom tends to compensatory increase.”

Although we can find differences, in general, the plot of the film Gattaca (1997) is related to the plot and phrases of A happy world.

38. “The gods are fair, without a doubt. But its code of laws is dictated, ultimately, by the people who organize society; Providence follows the example of men.”

In the film The island (2005), directed by Michael…