Brave New World is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley.
Set in a futuristic World State, the novel follows the lives of a few characters in a society that rests around genetic engineering, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning.
Written in 1931 and published in 1932, the book has two adaptations for film, in 1980 and 1998, and one for TV series, in 2020.
Despite being frequently banned by libraries and schools, Brave New World influenced many later dystopian novels and the science-fiction genre in general.
No civilization without social stability. No social stability without individual stability.Chapter 3
Wheels must turn steadily, but cannot turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as steady as the wheels upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment.Chapter 3
There was a thing called Heaven; but all the same they used to drink enormous quantities of alcohol.Chapter 3
Words can be like X-rays, if you use them properly-they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.Chapter 4
One of the principal functions of a friend is to suffer (in a milder and symbolic form) the punishments that we should like, but are unable, to inflict upon our enemies.Chapter 12
Our world is not the same as Othello’s world. You can’t make flivvers without steel – and you can’t make tragedies without social instability. The world’s stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get.Chapter 16
Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn’t nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.Chapter 16
It isn’t only art that’s incompatible with happiness; it’s also science. Science is dangerous; we have to keep it most carefully chained and muzzled.Chapter 16
Happiness has got to be paid for. You’re paying for it, Mr. Watson – paying because you happen to be too much interested in beauty. I was too much interested in truth; I paid too.Chapter 16
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.Chapter 17
God isn’t compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness. You must make your choice. Our civilization has chosen machinery and medicine and happiness. That’s why I have to keep these books locked up in the safe.Chapter 17
It is natural to believe in God when you’re alone – quite alone, in the night, thinking about death…Chapter 17
In a properly organized society like ours, nobody has any opportunities for being noble or heroic.Chapter 17
But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.Chapter 17