Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Attribution ·226 of 348
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
They never said that.
What people say
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
What was actually said
"No verified Orwell source." Anonymous — Attributed — first appears in print c. 1980s; the actual sentiment (with different wording) is in Orwell's "Notes on Nationalism" (1945) but not this phrasing
Why it stuck
The Orwell Society and the Orwell Foundation both disavow the attribution. It is almost certainly an American post-Vietnam coinage, possibly from a Richard Grenier 1993 column, itself attributing it to Orwell without citation.
Churchill is the alternate miscredit. The phrase is probably original to the 20th-century American political right, not British mid-century literature.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.