Is this a real Orwell quote? And if so, where is it from?

[MaudGone]

"Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it"

Yes it is. It's from one of his essays in A Collection of Essays, the same book also has his essay about shooting an elephant of you've ever read that?

Yes, roughly Orwell, but not a novel.
"Each" is actually "every"

Your quote is accurate and it's from a review: https://wist.info/orwell-george/3040/

It's collected in volume 4 of Orwell's essays which you can find in the Internet Archive.

It reminds me of the quote, apparently mis-attributed to Mark Twain:

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.

😂 Love that Mark Twain quote!