Yevgeny Zamyatin — We [168]

His eyes glinted—two sharp little drills, revolving rapidly, boring deeper and deeper—in a moment they would reach the very bottom and see what I would not… even to myself… — Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, 168

Note

The rapid compression of two human eyes into mechanical tools (‘revolving rapidly, boring deeper and deeper’) brilliantly externalizes the terror of living under total surveillance.