Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed in the present, now existed in the past, and when once the act of forgery was forgotten, he would exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar.

Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed in the present, now existed in the past, and when once the act of forgery was forgotten, he would exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar.

– George Orwell

1984. Part 1, Chapter 4. Winston’s thoughts as he invents the fictitious war hero Comrade Ogilvy, while ‘rectifying’ historical documents at the Ministry of Truth. His job is to falsify the past to accord with the Party’s latest version of reality. A written example of ‘doublethink’.

1984 Quotes