Quote of the day by George Orwell: “Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”

“Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.” 

Explanation: In this quote, the author is highlighting a deep existential need of humankind and it is surprisingly not love. Most people think that love alone can make people full of life and deeply satisfied. However, more than affection one desires to be understood by other people or at least by some.

Each person has an internal reality which includes thoughts they don’t speak aloud, feelings they are too shy to express or opinions they are too scared to share. These unsaid words, buried deep inside a person, are desperate to be seen by other people.

While love can be expressed as deep affection or longing, it necessarily doesn’t imply knowing the other person or seeing them exactly for who they are. In other words, love can sometimes be superficial and not grounded into deep recognition of each other.

In a subtle sense, the author carefully demarcates between an emotional connection with someone and deeply understanding their inner self. Sometimes, people spend their lives being loved but not understood.

About the author:  George Orwell (born in 1903) was an influential English author known for his novels on the dangers of totalitarianism and rigid political systems. 

Multiple life experiences like he serving the police in Burma and his time fighting in the Spanish war is known to have influenced his writings.

He is known for his famous work the Animal Farm (1945), a political fable around dictatorship and another Nineteen Eighty four (1949) around the dangers of totalitarianism.

The author had intended to make political writing an art form and knew how language can be used to defend the indefensible. His writings greatly explored the themes of unchecked power and extremism.