Quotes / 2 + Torture = 5

"One of the most abominable habits of all times, including our own, is to compel other people to accept as truth something which appears to those people to be untrue."

— William Auld

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."

— Nineteen Eighty-Four

"Do you remember," he went on, "writing in your diary Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four?" "Yes", relied Winston. O'Brien held up his left hand, its back towards Winston, the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended. "How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?" "Four." "And if The Party says it is not four, but five? Then how many?" "Four - " The word ended in a gasp of pain. "How many fingers, Winston?" "FIVE! FIVE! FIVE!" "No Winston, that is no use, you are lying. You still think there are four." "How can I help it," he blubbered, "How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four!" "Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes, there are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder, it is not easy to become sane."

— Nineteen Eighty-Four

"No! It's not enough! I don't want him to obey! I want him to believe! To accept! To want to accept! We've got to have him work for us voluntarily!"

— Ferris, Atlas Shrugged

"It wasn't the torture that broke me. It wasn't the indoctrination. It was time. Time rots everything, Booker. Even hope."

— Future Elizabeth, BioShock Infinite

Picard: All I had to do was to say that I could see five lights, when, in fact, there were only four.
Troi: You didn't say it?
Picard: No... but I was going to. I would have told him anything. Anything at all. But more than that... I believed that I could see five lights.

— Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Chain of Command, Part 2"

"Mike, this guy is Gulag tough. I've seen the type. After a month, when he's been in isolation so long that he's howling at the moon, you know, maybe..."

— Sam, Burn Notice, "Comrades"

"The Gestapo were bone-breakers. The Stasi were soul-breakers."

— German saying

Mac: Frank, does that waterboard really work.
Frank: You bet your ass! I got Dee to admit to things she never did!

— It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis"

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