Actually I just remembered that Orwell didn’t really say that.
Rough Men
Did George Orwell ever say: “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf?” Or: “We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us?”
Not exactly. But he did make comments that were along similar lines. In his essay on Rudyard Kipling (1942), Orwell wrote: “[Kipling] sees clearly that men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilised, are there to guard and feed them.” (Thanks to Keith Ammann for this). And in his ‘Notes on Nationalism’ (1945) he wrote: “Those who “abjure” violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf.” (Thanks to Parbety). Where the rough men crept in is anyone’s guess.