Quote of the day by George Orwell: 'Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood' - Why being understood can matter more than just being loved explained by the English novelist and poet

Love is an emotion often seen as the foundation of human relationships, but being loved does not always directly mean that you are also understood. Sometimes, what a person want is not more affection but the feeling that someone really understands their thoughts and fears. George Orwell spoke about this idea in a quote from his dystopian novel 1984.

“Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood,” Orwell wrote, which shows us difference between receiving affection and feeling understood by another person.

What does George Orwell's quote mean?


The quote of the day tells us that love and understanding are not always the same thing. Someone can love another person very much , but not fully understand their feelings , concerns or reasons for acting in a certain kind of way .

In contrast, to be understood is to have one’s thoughts and emotions recognized, without always having to explain or defend them. It gives a feeling of connection that love alone might not.

The context behind the quote in 1984

Published in the year 1949, the novel 1984 is about Winston Smith, who is a man living under the rule of the Party in the fictional state of Oceania. The government controls people’s lives and observes their behavior and tries to control how they think and perceive reality.

Winston works for the Ministry of Truth, where he edits the historical record to suit the Party's constantly shifting assertions. He exists in a world where obedience is the norm and he secretly questions the authority of that world and longs for a world where truth and independent thought can exist.

The quote comes up in Part Three, Chapter Two, during Winston's imprisonment at the Ministry of Love. He is being tortured and interrogated by O’Brien, an officer he thought he could trust.

Who was George Orwell?

George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, an English novelist, essayist and journalist, who was born in India in 1903. He became one of literature’s most influential critics of authoritarianism and of political propaganda.

He is best known for his novels Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949). Both deal with the manipulation of people by power, but they approach this through different fictional settings.

Orwell’s writing style was used draw from the things that he had experienced in his life. His service in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, his reporting on poverty and his participation in the Spanish Civil War informed his views on power, inequality and political oppression. He died in London in 1950.