An old Russian proverb . "Where hangs the smoke of hate burns a fiercer fire called fear." The trick . was to keep that fire alive, but to know at the same time it might consume you also. Then the trick was to make the fear invisible in the smokes of hatred. Having accomplished that, you would own men's souls and your power would be absolute, so long as you never allowed men to see that their hate was but fear, and so long as you, afraid, knowing it, hence more shrewd and cautious than the rest, did not become a corpse at the hands of the hating fearful. There, in a nutshell, was the recipe for dictatorship. Over the proletariat. Over the godly believers. Over the heathen. Over all men, even those who imagined they were free and yet could be made to hate. Frighten; then furnish the whipping boys. Then seize. Philip Wylie
About This Quote

This quote is from the book "1984" by George Orwell. The author uses this quote to describe how the government of Oceania controls its citizens. The purpose of this quote is to show that in order to control a whole society you need to use fear. Fear is one of the most powerful tools leaders have at their disposal.

To control a society you need to make them scared. A little bit of fear will keep people in line and keep them from getting out of line for fear of what might happen to them. However, if they begin to realize that their fears and insecurities are actually true and they start acting on those insecurities they will be in trouble and you can no longer control them.

That's why it's important to make people think you're doing good things, but only do the things that lead them closer and closer to the edge so that when they finally jump off it is too late and they can't get back up again.

Source: The Answer: A Fable For Our Times

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  1. They are afraid. They would, today, keep secret a thousand things that, yesterday, they would have told one another freely. Freedom. Where is it now? We are driving it into limbo–their kind. To limbo.
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