George Bernard Shaw quotes
George Bernard Shaw
Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. He was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer.George Bernard Shaw quotes
Baseball has the great advantage over cricket of being sooner ended
Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity
Old men are dangerous: it doesn't matter to them what is going to happen to the world
One man that has a mind and knows it can always beat ten men who haven't and don't
We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth
Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous
I want to be all used up when I die
In heaven an angel is nobody in particular
George Bernard Shaw quotes
There are no secrets better kept than the secrets everybody guesses
There is no subject on which more dangerous nonsense is talked and thought than marriage
The fickleness of the women I love is only equalled by the infernal constancy of the women who love me
All my life affection has been showered upon me, and every forward step I have made has been taken in spite of it
Self-sacrifice enables us to sacrifice other people without blushing
George Bernard Shaw quotes
Better never than late
Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed
Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree does
You have learnt something. That always feels at first as if you had lost something
Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it
George Bernard Shaw quotes
She had lost the art of conversation but not, unfortunately, the power of speech
The minority is sometimes right; the majority always wrong
What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child
When a man says money can do anything, that settles it: he hasn't got any
I enjoy convalescence. It is the part that makes the illness worth while
George Bernard Shaw quotes
No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious
The frontier between hell and heaven is only the difference between two ways of looking at things
Beauty is a short-lived tyranny
While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered animals, how can we expect any ideal living conditions on this earth
A man never tells you anything until you contradict him
George Bernard Shaw quotes
An index is a great leveller
Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience
People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them
Those who do not know how to live must make a merit of dying
Very few people can afford to be poor
George Bernard Shaw quotes
Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done
If there was nothing wrong in the world there wouldn't be anything for us to do
You are going to let the fear of poverty govern you life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live
The truth is, hardly any of us have ethical energy enough for more than one really inflexible point of honor
A veteran journalist has never had time to think twice before he writes
George Bernard Shaw quotes
The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier
An Englishman thinks he is moral when he is only uncomfortable
Man can climb to the highest summits, but he cannot dwell there long
Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us
Until the men of action clear out the talkers we who have social consciences are at the mercy of those who have none
George Bernard Shaw quotes
The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and about all time
Life levels all men. Death reveals the eminent
Fashions, after all, are only induced epidemics
Americans adore me and will go on adoring me until I say something nice about them
We are the only real aristocracy in the world: the aristocracy of money
George Bernard Shaw quotes
What Englishman will give his mind to politics as long as he can afford to keep a motor car
Every person who has mastered a profession is a skeptic concerning it
The British soldier can stand up to anything except the British War Office
It's easier to replace a dead man than a good picture
Life would be tolerable but for its amusements
George Bernard Shaw quotes
Few of us have vitality enough to make any of our instincts imperious
General consultant to mankind
The heretic is always better dead. And mortal eyes cannot distinguish the saint from the heretic
The natural term of the affection of the human animal for its offspring is six years
Why, except as a means of livelihood, a man should desire to act on the stage when he has the whole world to act in, is not clear to me
George Bernard Shaw quotes
You can always tell an old soldier by the inside of his holsters and cartridge boxes. The young ones carry pistols and cartridges; the old ones, grub
It is most unwise for people in love to marry
The things most people want to know about are usually none of their business
Martyrdom: The only way a man can become famous without ability
Virtue is insufficient temptation
George Bernard Shaw quotes
If you injure your neighbour, better not do it by halves
The art of government is the organisation of idolatry
What is virtue but the Trade Unionism of the married
A man who has no office to go, to I don't care who he is, is a trial of which you can have no conception
The love of economy is the root of all virtue
George Bernard Shaw about Life, Personality, Self-determination
Also about
Ignorance, Danger, Lie, Delusion, Understanding, Illusion, Communication
Men have to do some awfully mean things to keep up their respectability
There is no satisfaction in hanging a man who does not object to it
Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself
Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place
George Bernard Shaw about Life, Motivation, Mistakes
Also about
Action, Wisdom, Experience, Past, Change, Progress, Love, Food, Politics, Government
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
There is no sincerer love than the love of food.
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
George Bernard Shaw about Imagination, Creation, Creativity
Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.
Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness.
If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance.
A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.
Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can't sleep with the window open.
It is a curious sensation: the sort of pain that goes mercifully beyond our powers of feeling. When your heart is broken, your boats are burned: nothing matters any more. It is the end of happiness and the beginning of peace.
The golden rule is that there are no golden rules.
Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life.
Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.
George Bernard Shaw about Science, Discovery, Problems
Science never solves a problem without creating ten more
I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.
A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.
The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
George Bernard Shaw about Belief, Persuasion, Art
Also about
Reality, Imagination, Ability, Dreams, Murder, Animals, Mankind, Intelligence
The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it.
Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.
You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"
When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity.
It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics
George Bernard Shaw about Home, Traveling, Love
Also about
Foolishness, Curiosity, Advice, Personality, Self, Age, Wisdom, Belief, Punishment, Lie
The great advantage of a hotel is that it is a refuge from home life.
First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity
Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.
We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing
The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.
George Bernard Shaw about Forgiveness, Silence, Friendship
Also about
Progress, Censorship, Books, Reading
Beware of the man who does not return your blow: he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself.
Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.
The only service a friend can really render is to keep up your courage by holding up to you a mirror in which you can see a noble image of yourself.
The first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.
Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads.
Kings are not born: they are made by artificial hallucination
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
The only way to avoid being miserable is not to have enough leisure to wonder whether you are happy or not.
Human beings are the only animals of which I am thoroughly and cravenly afraid.
Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.
George Bernard Shaw about Patriotism, Eating, Habits
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it
Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, very few survive.
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it
There is nothing more dangerous than the conscience of a bigot
The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.
George Bernard Shaw about Politics, Ignorance, Cynicism
Also about
Initiative, Action, Motivation, Youth, Waste, Work, Failure, Perseverance, Diligence
He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.
Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get.
The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can't find them, make them
Youth is wasted on the young
When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.
Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart's desire; the other is to get it.
Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.
Clever and attractive women do not want to vote; they are willing to let men govern as long as they govern men.
Do not do unto others as you expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.
I am a Christian. That obliges me to be a Communist.
George Bernard Shaw about Reputation, Failure, Perseverance
My reputation grows with every failure.
If women were particular about men's characters, they would never get married at all.
A little learning is a dangerous thing, but we must take that risk because a little is as much as our biggest heads can hold.
You cannot be a hero without being a coward.
The man with a toothache thinks everyone happy whose teeth are sound. The poverty-stricken man makes the same mistake about the rich man.
Hell is full of musical amateurs.
The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react
Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few
A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education
Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself
George Bernard Shaw quotes
A man of great common sense and good taste - meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage
You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul
I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad
The only secrets are the secrets that keep themselves
Independence? That's middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth
George Bernard Shaw quotes
I am afraid we must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy
Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough
Lack of money is the root of all evil
The test of a man or woman's breeding is how they behave in a quarrel
Parentage is a very important profession, but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of the children
George Bernard Shaw quotes
No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means
Do not waste your time on Social Questions. What is the matter with the poor is Poverty; what is the matter with the rich is Uselessness
Choose silence of all virtues, for by it you hear other men's imperfections, and conceal your own
Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh
Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else
George Bernard Shaw quotes
In a battle all you need to make you fight is a little hot blood and the knowledge that it's more dangerous to lose than to win
If all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion
Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few
What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts
No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult thing, and doing it very well, ever loses his self-respect
George Bernard Shaw quotes
Cruelty would be delicious if one could only find some sort of cruelty that didn't really hurt
In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it
Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve
Some look at things that are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not
The secret to success is to offend the greatest number of people
George Bernard Shaw quotes
An election is a moral horror, as bad as a battle except for the blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it
Beauty is all very well at first sight; but who ever looks at it when it has been in the house three days
An asylum for the sane would be empty in America
If you leave the smallest corner of your head vacant for a moment, other people's opinions will rush in from all quarters
Nothing is worth doing unless the consequences may be serious
George Bernard Shaw quotes
We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it
I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation
It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid
Home life is no more natural to us than a cage is natural to a cockatoo
Property is organized robbery
George Bernard Shaw quotes
A perpetual holiday is a good working definition of hell
It's so hard to know what to do when one wishes earnestly to do right
He's a man of great common sense and good taste - meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage
Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history
We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said to be
George Bernard Shaw quotes
Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends
There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it
Why should we take advice on sex from the pope? If he knows anything about it, he shouldn't
I'm an atheist and I thank God for it
If you must hold yourself up to your children as an object lesson, hold yourself up as a warning and not as an example
George Bernard Shaw quotes
Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire
All great truths begin as blasphemies
Give a man health and a course to steer, and he'll never stop to trouble about whether he's happy or not
Socialism is the same as Communism, only better English
Never fret for an only son, the idea of failure will never occur to him
George Bernard Shaw quotes
When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty
I never resist temptation, because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me
Capitalism has destroyed our belief in any effective power but that of self interest backed by force
Perhaps the greatest social service that can be rendered by anybody to the country and to mankind is to bring up a family
The perfect love affair is one which is conducted entirely by post
George Bernard Shaw quotes
The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation
A broken heart is a very pleasant complaint for a man in London if he has a comfortable income
Every man over forty is a scoundrel
Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week
Find enough clever things to say, and you're a Prime Minister; write them down and you're a Shakespeare
George Bernard Shaw quotes
Youth is a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children
Miracles, in the sense of phenomena we cannot explain, surround us on every hand: life itself is the miracle of miracles
He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches
I never thought much of the courage of a lion tamer. Inside the cage he is at least safe from people
Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue, and abiding love
George Bernard Shaw quotes
There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it
England and America are two countries separated by the same language
Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman, but believing what he read made him mad
You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race
A fashion is nothing but an induced epidemic
George Bernard Shaw quotes
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake
Most people do not pray; they only beg
Political necessities sometime turn out to be political mistakes
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one
Which painting in the National Gallery would I save if there was a fire? The one nearest the door of course
