The philosophy of the ruling minority in Nineteen Eighty-Four is a sadism which has been carried to its logical conclusion by going beyond sex and denying it.

Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

Hermetic quote Huxley Brave sadism

Consider also:

  1. “So you think I’m mad?” said Conway at length. Mallinson broke into a nervous laugh. “Well, I should damn well say so, after a tale like that. I mean … well, really … such utter nonsense … it seems to me rather beyond arguing about.”
  2. In magic—and in life—there is only the present moment, the now. You can’t measure time the way you measure the distance between two points.
  3. “It’s Chung Fu,” Juliana said. “Inner Truth. I know without using the chart, too. And I know what it means.” Raising his head, Hawthorne scrutinized her. He had now an almost savage expression. “It means, does it, that my book is true?” “Yes,” she said. With anger he said, “Germany and Japan lost the war.” “Yes.”
  4. “Jonathan shrugged again. He cared not for mysteries. Instead he smiled as he reached into his scrip and pinched a big fat chunk of meat to put in his mouth. He cared a lot more for pork.”
  5. “The poets and artists and philosophers, resistance activists, secret scouts and troublemakers, had become, as they must, soldiers.”