“In a time/state of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act” is a statement often attributed to author George Orwell (1903-1950). The saying doesn’t appear in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948), his essay “Politics and the English Language” (1946), or any other of Orwell’s writings. The saying has been cited in print since at least 1984 (when it was attributed to George Orwell).
 
A similar saying was used by author and presidential candidate Ron Paul in 2008—“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” A related 2021 saying by Herbert Hildebrandt is “In a world of propaganda, the truth is always a conspiracy.”
   
     
Wikipedia: George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense opposition to totalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language, and a belief in democratic socialism.
 
Considered perhaps the twentieth century’s best chronicler of English culture, Orwell wrote fiction, polemical journalism, literary criticism and poetry. He is best known for the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (published in 1949) and the satirical novella Animal Farm (1945)—they have together sold more copies than any two books by any other twentieth-century author.
 
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Science Dimension
National Research Council of Canada, Office of Information Services
Volume 16
1984
Pg. 5:
I think George Orwell said in his book 1984 that in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. If Science Dimension is not prepared to explore the future of renewable energy technologies except in inaccurate ...
   
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Overland
Issues 114-116
1989
Pg. 106:
To introduce Ross Fitzgerald here are some words he’s used twice now in introducing his own books. One is a George Orwell quote: “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”. A very apt phrase.
 
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Return to Sender:
What really happened at the fiscal envelope hui
By Wira Gardiner
Birkenhead: Reed
1996
Pg. 173:
Whaitiri Mikaere, of Ngati Pukenga descent, told Graham that ‘in a time of political deceit, Doug, telling the truth is a revolutionary act’.
 
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What We Do Now
By Dennis Loy Johnson
Hoboken, NJ: Melville House Pub.
2004
Pg. 17:
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act,” as George Orwell reminds us in his essay “Politics and the English Language.”
     
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The Best Liberal Quotes Ever:
Why the left is right
By William P. Martin
Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks
2004
Pg. 225:
ln a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. — George Orwell
 
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My Name Is Ross:
An Alcoholic’s Journey
By Ross Fitzgerald
Sydney: University of New South Wales Press Ltd.
2010
Pg. 168:
The theme of his article was my commitment to telling the truth and how, as George Orwell said, ‘In a state of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act’.