George Orwell: “Where’s the omelette?”

Orwell was once arguing with a Communist sympathizer about the true nature of Stalin’s Russia. Forced to concede that there might be some political repression, his opponent fell back on what was then a much-favoured cliché.

Communist Sympathizer: Well, you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.

Orwell: Where’s the omelette?

–John Gross, The Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes