George Orwell. One thousand nine hundred eighty four (№ 335929)

Terrible thing made the party: to convince you that by themselves, the feeling, the rush means nothing, and at the same time robbing you of all power over the material world. As soon as you got to her paws, what you felt or did not feel what you do and don't - care. Whatever happened you vanished, and neither you nor your actions were ever heard of again. You pulled out of the flow of the story. But people only two generations ago this would have seemed not so important - they did not try to change history. They were bound by personal ties of loyalty and subjected them to doubt. What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value by themselves.