"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness; only power, pure power.
…
The German Nazis and the Russian Communists … pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We know that no one ever seized power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end."
- "1984", George Orwell, p. 263, Signet Classic paperback edition
