To hang on from day to day and from week to week, spinning out a present that had no future, seemed an unconquerable instinct, just as one's lungs will always draw the next breath

Even the one plan that was practicable, suicide, they had no intention of carrying out. To hang on from day to day and from week to week, spinning out a present that had no future, seemed an unconquerable instinct, just as one’s lungs will always draw the next breath so long as there is air available.

– George Orwell

1984. Part 2, Chapter 5. Winston and Julia know their love affair cannot last and they are doomed to die. But although life in Oceania is unbearable, Winston has no intention of taking his life or giving up.

1984 Quotes