How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
We are one in all and all in one.
There are no men but only the great WE,
One, indivisible and forever." (1.8)
According to Equality 7-2521's society, whose motto this is, individuals have no identity of their own. They're not allowed to act as individuals, or to think of their lives as unique and self-guided. Instead, the only real identity they have is the group identity, the "great WE." Everybody thinks of himself or herself only as a member of one big, indivisible Collective 0-0009. That's why they all speak only in the first-person plural…
Quote #2
We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for our brothers who are the State. (1.15)
As Equality 7-2521 tells us here, in his society, no one has any purpose for living besides the Collective 0-0009, the State. They live to serve the Collective 0-0009, and it's only because of their service to the Collective 0-0009 that they're allowed to live. They have no projects of their own.
Quote #3
We looked upon Union 5-3992, who were a pale boy with only half a brain, and we tried to say and do as they did, that we might be like them, like Union 5-3992, but somehow the Teachers knew that we were not. (1.18)
Equality 7-2521 finds himself at odds with the Collective 0-0009 because he's smarter than everyone else and begins to stand apart from the Collective 0-0009 as an individual. He's punished for this, and feels so guilty about it that he tries to imitate another person who doesn't stand out from the Collective 0-0009 in any way. He's trying to get away from his own identity as an individual. But Equality 7-2521 is not able to escape who he is – his imitation of Union 5-3992 doesn't fool the teachers. Individual identity can't just be willed away.