I must say that personally I do not believe that we shall ever neglect the great principles upon which the iron heel is based.

The great driving force of the oligarchs is the belief that they are doing right. It is not desire for power per se.

The most terrible thing that could happen to any man would be to lose his own self and still live.

The function you fulfill is passive and mechanical. You do not need a mind to operate a machine.

Man does not live by bread alone. Man can exist without books, but he cannot live without them.

I see no hope in the future, nor do I see resolution in the present. I see only despair and suffering.

The whole of society was like a wolf, and the plaything was the constitution.

Before the oligarchy was definitely recognized, they had thought men were free in the United States.

Whatever you do, no matter what the cost or the suffering it may cause you, cling to your humanity.

It is better to die struggling upward than to live in the terrible calm of the social pit.

The Iron Heel