George Bernard Shaw Quotes

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”
― George Bernard Shaw

“Happy is the man who can make a living by his hobby”
― George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

“The weak may not be admired and hero-worshipped; but they are by no means disliked or shunned; and they never seem to have the least difficulty in marrying people who are too good for them. They may fail in emergencies; but life is not one long emergency: it is mostly a string of situations for which no exceptional strength is needed, and with which even rather weak people can cope if they have a stronger partner to help them out.”
― George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

“If an imaginative boy has a sufficiently rich mother who has intelligence, personal grace, dignity of character without harshness, and a cultivated sense of the best art of her time to enable her to make her house beautiful, she sets a standard for him against which very few women can struggle, besides effecting for him a disengagement of his affections, his sense of beauty, and his idealism from his specifically sexual impulses.”
― George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

“When I visited George Bernard Shaw, in 1948, at his home in Aylot, a suburb of London, he was extremely anxious for me to tell him all that I knew about Ingersoll. During the course of the conversation, he told me that Ingersoll had made a tremendous impression upon him, and had exercised an influence upon him probably greater than that of any other man. He seemed particularly anxious to impress me with the importance of Ingersoll's influence upon his intellectual endeavors and accomplishments.

In view of this admission, what percentage of the greatness of Shaw belongs to Ingersoll? If Ingersoll's influence upon so great an intellect as George Bernard Shaw was that extensive, what must have been his influence upon others?

What seed of wisdom did he plant into the minds of others, and what accomplishments of theirs should be attributed to him? The world will never know.

What about the countless thousands from whom he lifted the clouds of darkness and fear, and who were emancipated from the demoralizing dogmas and creeds of ignorance and superstition?

What will be Ingersoll's influence upon the minds of future generations, who will come under the spell of his magic words, and who will be guided into the channels of human betterment by the unparalleled example of his courageous life?

The debt the world owes Robert G. Ingersoll can never be paid.”
― Joseph Lewis, Ingersoll the Magnificent

“The problem with communication…is the illusion that is has been accomplished.”
― George Bernard Shaw:

“Beware of false knowledge, it is more dangers than ignorance.”
― George Bernard Shaw

“Eliza has no use for the foolish romantic tradition that all women love to be mastered, if not actually bullied and beaten.”
― George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

“I am absolutely convinced of the lack of true scientific evidence in favour of Darwinian dogma. Nobody in the biological sciences, medicine included, needs Darwinism at all. Darwinism is certainly needed, however, in order to pose as a philosopher, since it is primarily a worldview. And an awful one, as George Bernard Shaw used to say.”
― Raul O. Leguizamon

“Animals are my friends and I don’t eat my friends.”
― George Bernard Shaw

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds, cannot change anything.”
― George Bernard Shaw

“The greatest fallacy with communication, is the belief that it has actually occurred.”
― George Bernard Shaw

“Don Juan’s supernatural antagonist hurled those who refuse to repent into lakes of burning brimstone, there to be tormented by devils with horns and tails. Of that antagonist, and of that conception of repentance, how much is left that could be used in a play by me dedicated to you?”
― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

“If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you”
― N/A

“The proud human heart is there revealed. We insist on paying for what we have done. We cannot stand the humiliation of acknowledging our bankruptcy and allowing somebody else to pay for us. The notion that this somebody else should be God himself is just too much to take. We would rather perish than repent, rather lose ourselves than humble ourselves.”
― John R. W. Stott

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food,' wrote George Bernard Shaw. Yes--- except, perhaps, for the love of a dog.”
― Caroline Eden, Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels