George Orwell: Two Money Commandments
on Wednesday, February 1, 2017George Orwell Money Quote saying Money is seen as a religion by all, and has only one commandment for each of two worshippers – for business it is ‘make money’ and for workers it is, ‘stay employed’ no matter the cost to your soul. George Orwell said:
“The decalogue has been reduced to two commandments. One for the employers – the elect, the money priesthood as it were – ‘Thou shalt make money’; the other for the employed – the slaves and underlings’ – ‘Thou shalt not lose thy job.'” — George Orwell
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George Orwell is criticizing how society views work and money. Orwell is saying that for businesses and employers, their main goal or “commandment” is to make as much money as possible. Meanwhile, for workers and employees, their main goal is simply to keep their job and not lose employment, even if the job is soul-crushing or goes against their values.
Orwell refers to employers as the “elect” and “money priesthood” to emphasize how they see themselves as superior to workers and view making profits as most important. He calls employees “slaves and underlings” to highlight that their main concern according to this quote is just retaining employment, not finding fulfilling work. Overall, Orwell is critiquing how work had become less about purpose and more about profits and survival for many in society.
Birthday: June 25, 1903 – Death: January 25, 1950