Enter the chillingly engineered future of Aldous Huxley’s iconic dystopia, Brave New World.
Explore a society where happiness is mandatory, stability is paramount, and individuality is obsolete, achieved through conditioning and the drug soma.
Discover the World State through the eyes of insiders like Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne, and the outsider John the Savage.
These 43 Brave New World quotes with page numbers (Harper Perennial 2006 ed.) delve into the novel’s core themes. Featuring insightful analysis, each quote explores control, freedom, truth, and the cost of manufactured happiness.
The World State’s foundation lies in meticulous biological engineering and psychological conditioning, ensuring citizens accept their predetermined roles and desires.
Conditioning, Caste & Social Stability
From the Hatchery onwards, individuals are designed and conditioned for specific social castes, their desires shaped by hypnopaedia (sleep-teaching) and societal reinforcement to ensure universal compliance and stability.
“And that,” put in the Director sententiously, “that is the secret of happiness and virtue — liking what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny.”
(Speaker: The Director, Chapter 1, Page 16)
The Director explicitly states the World State’s core principle: manufactured happiness achieved by conditioning citizens to desire their predetermined social roles, eliminating conflict between personal inclination and societal function.
“A love of nature keeps no factories busy.”
(Speaker: The Director (explaining policy), Chapter 2, Page 23)
This blunt statement reveals the purely economic motivation behind conditioning lower castes against nature; appreciating free, natural beauty doesn’t fuel the consumerism required for societal stability.
“Mother, monogamy, romance. High spurts the fountain; fierce and foamy the wild jet. The urge has but a single outlet. My love, my baby. No wonder those poor pre-moderns were mad and wicked and miserable. Their world didn’t allow them to take things easily, didn’t allow them to be sane, virtuous, happy. What with mothers and lovers, what with the prohibitions they were not conditioned to obey, what with the temptations and the lonely remorses, what with all the diseases and the endless isolating pain, what with the uncertainties and the poverty—they were forced to feel strongly. And feeling strongly (and strongly, what was more, in solitude, in hopelessly individual isolation), how could they be stable?”
(Speaker: The Controller (Mustapha Mond) likely reflecting, narrated context, Chapter 3, Page 41)
Mond contrasts the perceived instability caused by intense, exclusive pre-modern relationships (familial, romantic) with the World State’s engineered stability achieved by eliminating deep personal bonds and the strong emotions they generate.
“No social stability without individual stability.”
(Speaker: Mustapha Mond, Chapter 3, Page 42)
The World Controller articulates a foundational principle of the World State: societal order depends entirely on the psychological conditioning and contentment of its individual members.
“Impulse arrested spills over, and the flood is feeling, the flood is passion, the flood is even madness: it depends on the force of the current, the height and strength of the barrier. The unchecked stream flows smoothly down its appointed channels into a calm well being.”
(Speaker: Narrator, Chapter 3, Page 43)
This powerful metaphor explains the World State’s philosophy of emotional regulation: suppressing natural impulses leads to dangerous build-ups, while providing controlled outlets ensures calm stability.
“Ending is better than mending.”
(Speaker: Hypnopaedic proverb repeated by voices, Chapter 3, Pages 49, 50, 52)
This recurring sleep-taught slogan encapsulates the consumerist ideology underpinning the World State’s stability, prioritizing constant consumption and disposal over repair and conservation.
“Did you ever feel…as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out? Some sort of extra power that you arent using – you know, like all the water that goes down the falls instead of through the turbines?”
(Speaker: Helmholtz Watson, Chapter 4, Page 69)
Helmholtz expresses a profound sense of untapped potential and dissatisfaction with his prescribed role, using the metaphor of unused power to convey his yearning for deeper meaning and expression beyond societal conditioning.
“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly – they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”
(Speaker: Helmholtz Watson, Chapter 4, Page 70)
Helmholtz recognizes the immense, penetrating power of language used skillfully, contrasting it with the superficiality of the slogans and engineered emotions he typically works with, highlighting his desire for more impactful communication.
“A physical shortcoming could produce a kind of mental excess. The process, it seemed, was reversible. Mental excess could produce, for its own purposes, the voluntary blindness and deafness of deliberate solitude, the artificial impotence of asceticism.”
(Speaker: Narrator reflecting on Bernard and Helmholtz, Chapter 4, Page 69)
The narrator observes the interconnectedness of physical and mental states, noting how both Bernard’s physical difference and Helmholtz’s intellectual superiority lead to a shared sense of alienation and voluntary withdrawal.
“One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.”
(Speaker: Mustapha Mond, Chapter 17, Page 234)
Mond dismisses the idea of innate belief or instinct, attributing all conviction, including religious faith, solely to the power of psychological conditioning implemented by society.
“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. We are God’s property.”
(Speaker: Cardinal Newman, read by Mustapha Mond, Chapter 17, Page 232)
Quoting Newman, Mond presents the traditional religious view of human existence as dependent and belonging to a higher power, a concept directly opposed by the World State’s engineered self-sufficiency.
The pursuit of constant happiness, primarily through the drug soma and the suppression of unpleasant truths or deep emotions, is the cornerstone of the World State’s stability.
The Pursuit of Happiness: Soma, Truth & Stability
Universal happiness is maintained through pharmacological escapism (soma), hedonistic distractions (Feelies, promiscuity), and the careful suppression of art, science, religion, and history—anything that might introduce instability or difficult truths.
“Back to culture. Yes, actually to culture. You can’t consume much if you sit still and read books.”
(Speaker: The Director (explaining policy), Chapter 3, Page 50)
The Director reveals the anti-intellectual basis of the World State’s consumerism; reading and quiet contemplation are discouraged because they hinder the constant consumption necessary for economic stability.
“There was a thing called Heaven; but all the same they used to drink enormous quantities of alcohol.” … “There was a thing called the soul and a thing called immortality.” … “But they used to take morphia and cocaine.” … “Two thousand pharmacologists and biochemists were subsidized in A.F. 178.” … “Six years later it was being produced commercially. The perfect drug.” … “Euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly hallucinant.” … “All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects.” … “Take a holiday from reality whenever you like, and come back without so much as a headache or a mythology.” … “Stability was practically assured.”
(Speaker: Mustapha Mond (narrating history/development of soma), Chapter 3, Pages 53, 54)
Mond outlines the history and function of soma, presenting it as the scientifically engineered solution that replaced the unstable highs and negative consequences of past religion and drugs, ensuring docile contentment and societal stability.
“When the individual feels, the community reels.”
(Speaker: Lenina Crowne (quoting hypnopaedic proverb), Chapter 6, Page 94)
This sleep-taught maxim encapsulates the World State’s fear of strong individual emotion, framing personal feeling as a direct threat to collective stability and social harmony.
“A gramme is always better than a damn.”
(Speaker: Lenina Crowne (quoting hypnopaedic proverb), Chapter 6, Page 90)
Lenina recites another hypnopaedic slogan, illustrating the conditioned reflex to replace negative emotions (“a damn”) with immediate pharmacological escapism (soma) rather than confronting or processing distress.
“It’s philosophical, Tom Kawaguchi’s explanation was cut short by the divine harmony of the Twelfth Solidarity Hymn.”
(Speaker: Narrator, describing Solidarity Service, Chapter 5, Page 85)
This highlights how engineered ritual and enforced emotional experiences (“divine harmony”) interrupt and supersede potentially complex or individual philosophical thought within the Solidarity Service.
“Was and will make me ill,” she quoted, “I take a gramme and only am.”
(Speaker: Lenina Crowne, Chapter 6, Page 104)
Lenina uses a hypnopaedic rhyme to justify taking soma, framing the drug as a way to escape the unpleasantness of past memories (“was”) and future anxieties (“will”), achieving a state of pure, unburdened present existence (“only am”).
“Universal happiness keeps the wheels steadily turning; truth and beauty can’t.”
(Speaker: Mustapha Mond, Chapter 16, Page 228)
Mond starkly states the World State’s priorities: engineered happiness ensures economic productivity and social stability, whereas the potentially disruptive forces of truth and beauty are sacrificed for that stability.
“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.”
(Speaker: Mustapha Mond, Chapter 16, Page 228)
Mond acknowledges the sacrifice required for the World State’s happiness, identifying Helmholtz’s exile as payment for valuing beauty and his own Controllership as payment for abandoning the pursuit of pure scientific truth.
“What’s the point of truth or beauty or knowledge when anthrax bombs are popping all around you?”
(Speaker: Mustapha Mond, Chapter 16, Page 228)
Mond justifies the suppression of high art and science by referencing the chaos of the past (Nine Years’ War), arguing that survival and stability take precedence over abstract ideals in the face of potential annihilation.
“God isn’t compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness. You must make a choice. Our civilization has chosen machinery and medicine and happiness.”
(Speaker: Mustapha Mond, Chapter 17, Page 234)
Mond presents the fundamental incompatibility between religious/spiritual pursuits (represented by “God”) and the World State’s pillars of technological control and guaranteed comfort, forcing a choice that civilization has already made.
“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.”
(Speaker: John the Savage, Chapter 17, Page 240)
John vehemently rejects the World State’s offer of shallow comfort, claiming instead the right to experience the full spectrum of human existence, including God, art, danger, freedom, morality, and even sin—everything sacrificed for stability.
“You can’t have a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices.”
(Speaker: Mustapha Mond, Chapter 17, Page 237)
Mond argues that controlled indulgence in “pleasant vices” (like soma, promiscuity, Feelies) is essential for societal stability, as outlets that prevent the build-up of dangerous passions or dissatisfactions.
Characters like Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson, and especially John the Savage challenge the conformist society, representing different forms of alienation and the struggle for individuality.
Individuality, Alienation & The Savage’s Perspective
Bernard’s physical difference, Helmholtz’s intellectual dissatisfaction, and John’s “savage” upbringing create profound feelings of alienation, leading them to question the World State’s values and seek alternative ways of being.
“Those who meant well behaved in the same way as those who meant badly.”
(Speaker: Narrator about Bernard’s perception, Chapter 4, Page 63)
Observing Benito Hoover’s forced friendliness, Bernard perceives an unsettling lack of distinction between genuine goodwill and malicious intent within the conditioned behaviors of World State citizens.
“Did you ever feel…as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out?”
(Speaker: Helmholtz Watson, Chapter 4, Page 69)
Helmholtz articulates a profound sense of latent potential and dissatisfaction, feeling constrained by his societal role and yearning for a deeper form of expression or purpose beyond what is permitted.
“When people are suspicious with you, you start being suspicious with them.”
(Speaker: Bernard Marx, Chapter 4, Page 70)
Bernard explains his paranoia as a reaction to the judgment he perceives from others due to his nonconformity, highlighting how societal suspicion breeds reciprocal mistrust.
“Can you say something about nothing?”
(Speaker: Helmholtz Watson, Chapter 4, Page 70)
Helmholtz questions the possibility of creating meaningful art or expression (“piercing words”) when writing about the superficial, controlled subjects sanctioned by the World State (“nothing”).
“I’d rather be myself,” he said. “Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly.”
(Speaker: Bernard Marx, Chapter 6, Page 89)
Rejecting Lenina’s offer of soma, Bernard asserts his preference for authentic (even unpleasant) selfhood over chemically induced, conformist happiness (“jolly”), highlighting his desire for individuality.
“I want to know what passion is. I want to feel something strongly.”
(Speaker: Bernard Marx, Chapter 6, Page 94)
Bernard yearns for intense, genuine emotion (“passion”), recognizing its absence in his conditioned existence and desiring the feelings the World State seeks to eliminate.
“If one’s different, one’s bound to be lonely.”
(Speaker: John the Savage, Chapter 8, Page 137)
John identifies the inherent consequence of individuality in both the Savage Reservation and, implicitly, the World State: being different inevitably leads to isolation and loneliness.
“O brave new world that has such people in it.”
(Speaker: John the Savage quoting Shakespeare, Chapter 9, Pages 139, 160)
John initially utters Miranda’s line from The Tempest with naive wonder upon hearing about London, but later repeats it with bitter irony after witnessing the Bokanovsky twins, highlighting his profound disillusionment.
“Well, I’d rather be unhappy than have the sort of false, lying happiness you were having here.”
(Speaker: John the Savage to Bernard, Chapter 12, Page 179)
John rejects Bernard’s temporary, soma-fueled happiness derived from social success, valuing authentic (even unhappy) existence over the “false, lying” contentment offered by the World State.
“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.”
(Speaker: Narrator describing Bernard’s thoughts about Helmholtz, Chapter 12, Page 179)
The narrator offers a cynical, revealing insight into Bernard’s psychology, suggesting friendship can be an outlet for displaced aggression and frustration when confrontation is impossible.
“I believe one would write better if the climate were bad. If there were a lot of wind and storms for example…”
(Speaker: Helmholtz Watson, Chapter 16, Page 229)
Helmholtz theorizes that adversity and struggle (“bad climate”) are necessary catalysts for creating profound art, suggesting that the World State’s comfort and stability stifle true creative expression.
“It isn’t only art that is incompatible with happiness, it’s also science. Science is dangerous, we have to keep it most carefully chained and muzzled.”
(Speaker: Mustapha Mond, Chapter 16, Page 225)
Mond reveals that pursuing pure scientific truth, like art, is sacrificed for societal happiness and stability, acknowledging that unrestricted inquiry is inherently dangerous to the established order.
“They’re old; they’re about God hundreds of years ago. Not about God now”
“But God doesn’t change”
“Men do though”
(Dialogue: Mustapha Mond and John the Savage, Chapter 17, Page 231)
This exchange highlights the fundamental conflict between John’s belief in timeless, unchanging truths (God) and Mond’s pragmatic view that human society and its needs evolve, rendering old concepts irrelevant.
“The gods are just and of our pleasant vices make instruments to plague us; the dark and vicious place where thee he got cost him his eyes.”
(Speaker: John the Savage quoting Shakespeare (King Lear), Chapter 17, Page 235)
John uses this quote to argue for divine justice and consequences for immoral actions (“pleasant vices”), contrasting Shakespeare’s tragic vision with the World State’s consequence-free hedonism.
“Getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it. Whether ’tis better in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows or outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them…But you don’t do either. Neither suffer nor oppose. You just abolish the slings and arrows. It’s too easy.”
…”What you need,” the Savage went on, “is something with tears for a change. Nothing costs enough here.”
(Speaker: John the Savage, Chapter 17, Page 238)
John critiques the World State’s philosophy of eliminating suffering (“abolish the slings and arrows”) rather than confronting it, arguing this avoidance (“too easy”) prevents true human experience and that meaningful existence requires cost (“tears,” “costs enough”).
“I’m claiming the right to be unhappy.”
(Speaker: John the Savage, Chapter 17, Page 240)
In direct opposition to the World State’s enforced happiness, John makes his ultimate claim: the right to experience the full spectrum of human emotion, including suffering, as essential to freedom and meaning.
“’All right then,’ said the Savage defiantly, ‘I’m claiming the right to be unhappy.’
‘Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat; the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen tomorrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind.’ There was a long silence.
‘I claim them all,’ said the Savage at last.
Mustapha Mond shrugged his shoulders. ‘You’re welcome,’ he said.”
(Dialogue: John the Savage and Mustapha Mond, Chapter 17, Page 240)
This climactic exchange defines the novel’s core conflict. John claims the right to all aspects of human suffering, which Mond dismisses as freely available outside the “civilized” world, highlighting their irreconcilable worldviews.
“I ate civilization…It poisoned me; I was defiled. And then,” he added in a lower tone, “I ate my own wickedness.”
(Speaker: John the Savage, Chapter 18, Page 241)
After inducing vomiting, John uses this powerful metaphor to express his profound rejection of the World State (“civilization”), viewing its influence as a corrupting poison, while also acknowledging his own perceived moral failings (“wickedness”) within it.
“Pain was a fascinating horror”
(Speaker: Narrator, Chapter 18, Page 258)
This phrase captures the morbid curiosity of the onlookers watching John’s self-flagellation, highlighting the voyeuristic, detached way the conditioned populace consumes even real suffering as a form of entertainment or spectacle.
“Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east. . .”
(Speaker: Narrator describing the Savage’s hanging body, Chapter 18, Page 259)
The novel’s final image portrays John’s dead body reduced to an object, mechanically swinging like a compass needle, symbolizing perhaps the ultimate directionless void left by his inability to reconcile his ideals with either world.
Huxley’s chilling vision is a timeless warning about the potential dangers of sacrificing freedom, truth, and deep human connection for comfort and engineered stability.
Conclusion: The Cost of Happiness
These 43 quotes offer a glimpse into the engineered society and profound philosophical questions posed by Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
Through the experiences of Bernard, Helmholtz, Lenina, and especially John the Savage, the novel forces a confrontation between engineered happiness and authentic human experience, questioning the value of stability if achieved at the cost of freedom, art, science, and truth.
The allure of soma, the rejection of the past, and the conditioning against deep emotion paint a chilling picture of a potential future.
Brave New World remains a powerful cautionary tale, urging us to consider the price of comfort and the essential human need for meaning beyond mere pleasure. It challenges us to ask what truly constitutes a “good” life and what we might lose pursuing a perfect, painless world.
A Note on Page Numbers & Edition:
As the World State controls information, page numbers can shift across editions! These page numbers reference the specific Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition (October 17, 2006) of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, ISBN-13: 978-0060850524. Always consult your copy to ensure stability in your references.
Jeremy Mortis, founder of Ageless Investing, applies a rigorous analytical approach (the AAM framework) to distill timeless wisdom and contextualized quotes from classic literature, saving you time while deepening understanding. Learn more about Jeremy’s unique background and methodology on his author bio page.