those who would do us harm.”There are many quotes of Orwell's that are thematically similar, but don't quite match the words of your quote. Featured on Meta
That, I think, is still fair. All three images via Wikimedia Commons.
They Can Only Give You AnswersQuiz Question: Who Is Buried in Grant’s Tomb? The quotation below from Representative L. Mendel Rivers was imprecise but similar to the one above from Orwell: I wish some way could be found to get into the heads of those who carry out pacifist and so-called anti-Vietnam demonstrations the truth of George Orwell’s words about pacifism in our time:In 1981 Richard Grenier published a review of the film “Breaker Morant” titled “The Uniforms That Guard Us” in Commentary magazine. Will enclosed the crucial sentence in quotation marks: In 1999 the expression returned to Orwell’s home country appearing in The Sunday Times in London. And since the book was printed in 1949, I'm curious who said it first.
Special thanks to Steven Bagley who pointed to the intriguing 1963 Le Carré citation. )Update History: On March 28, 2014 parts of the article were rewritten in an attempt to improve exposition. "We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us. It would be difficult to hit off the one-eyed pacifism of the
Portrait of Rudyard Kipling by John Collier from 1891.
Surprising how hard it can be to track down the origin even of a relatively recent quote. We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalfI think these words are consistent with the sentiments Orwell expressed in essays, but I have read conflicting comments about whether these words are correctly ascribed to him. Alternative: "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." I especially like the parallel between Grenier’s non-quote of Orwell and Orwell’s non-quote of Kipling.These words, I pray, will burn deeply into the flesh of those who dare pass judgement, of any kind, on a young gentleman or lady who has the guts to put on a uniform knowing damn well they may die because of it. Update History: On April 16, 2016 the 1963 Le Carré citation was added.Excellent research. "We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us. "We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us." The phrasing he used differed from that employed by Grenier, but the meaning was quite similar. referred to “rough men”.See the article for more examples of this idea in Orwell's writing.Thanks for contributing an answer to Literature Stack Exchange! The best answers are voted up and rise to the top
this is perhaps the central secret of his power to create telling At a later time the restatement is directly ascribed to person B.Previous researchers located the key 1993 citation and found phrases in the works of Orwell and Kipling that contain parts of the idea expressed in the aphorism under investigation.