Attempting to predict what life would be like far away in the future is no easy feat. But in 1932, Akdous Huxley achieved the damn near impossible: he created a novel that eerily foretold many aspects of latter society.
He also provided us with a treasure chest of memorable pieces of wisdom. We've collected the 25 best:
CHECK OUT THE 25 COOLEST AUTHORS OF ALL TIME
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“One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.”
“If one's different, one's bound to be lonely.”
“Those who feel themselves despised do well to look despising.”
“No social stability without individual stability.”
“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”
“That is the secret of happiness and virtue -- liking what you've got to do.”
“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.”
“We don't want to change. Every change is a menace to stability.”
“Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery.”
“Those who meant well behaved in the same way as those who meant badly.”
“Ending is better than mending.”
“To be excited is still to be unsatisfied.”
“Never put off till tomorrow the fun you can have today.”
“We are not our own any more than what we possess is our own. We did not make ourselves, we cannot be supreme over ourselves. We are not our own masters.”
“The greater a man's talents, the greater his power to lead astray.”
“Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth.”
“You can’t learn a science unless you know what it’s all about.”
“Universal happiness keeps the wheels steadily turning, truth and beauty can't.”
“It is natural to believe in God when you're alone-- quite alone, in the night, thinking about death.”
“What man has joined, nature is powerless to put asunder.”
“When people are suspicious with you, you start being suspicious with them.”
“People believe in God because they’ve been conditioned to believe in God.”
“ It is better than one should suffer than that many should be corrupted.”
“You can't consume much if you sit still and read books.”
“You’ve got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art.”
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(Images: Rex Features)
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