450+ Best Inspiring George Bernard Shaw Quotes
Who is George Bernard Shaw?
George Bernard Shaw was born on 26 July 1856 in Dublin, Ireland. Shaw was a British playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. He had already written many plays by the time he was twenty-three.
George Bernard Shaw was a prominent Irish playwright and co-founder of the London School of Economics, amongst other things. He was a very intelligent man and was self-educated. George Bernard Shaw was famous for his wit and clever sense of humor.
Among his better-known works were Pygmalion, Man and Superman, and Saint Joan. When Shaw died in 1950, he was honored by a unique memorial service at Westminster Abbey. Officiating was Karl Jaspers, the German theologian, and philosopher who is best known for his work on the concept of existentialism.
George Bernard Shaw Quotes
We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.
In socialism, everybody gets exactly what they need, but nobody gets what they want.
Some people take things far too seriously, and they need to lighten up…
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in adapting the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
If voting made any difference, they would make it illegal
A man is truly happy only when he feels needed by others
Some people follow their dreams, and I’m afraid I’m not one of them
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe has ceased to be human
A man is not truly in love unless he thinks his lover’s thoughts, feels his feelings and shares his soul.
It doesn’t matter what you are, but who you are when the world is against you.
The man who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.
To get the better of one’s self and be one’s self is the highest attainment to which human nature can aspire.
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
The Marxian theory is already the ultimate refinement of Socialism, and it is in its essence a theory of destruction.
It takes an uncommon mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious
The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be.
The secret of success is constancy to purpose.
Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts.
I can’t see myself as a judge. I don’t have the temperament for it; it requires an iron will, which I haven’t got. I am qualified to be a hanging judge, but not for sitting on the bench and weighing evidence.
A good joke is like a good bridge: if you don’t get it, you don’t deserve it.
How can you convince a Darwinist in private life that he is wrong? Ask him to give up his house, his money, and all his friends. That’s the only way you can be rid of him. If he is an atheist, ask him to make the same sacrifice for his beliefs.
I write for the same reason I breathe – because if I didn’t, I would die
A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery
Contradiction is the heart of all philosophy
When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it’s his duty.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are
I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world
For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong
Speak the truth, even if your voice shakes
I am absolutely opposed to all war. War is too horrible, too monstrous, for us to contemplate it.
Those who believe in telepathy don’t bother their heads about whether it exists or not.
Religion takes one out of life and shows him the corpse
The problem today is not to get men to be good; the problem is to get men to be good at being men
War does not determine who is right – only who is left
I don’t know which I hate more, the beauty of mediocrity or the ugliness of genius
The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent to them
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it
He who can control himself can have control over others
I am not a convinced socialist
The socialists are the enemies of civilization not because they want to abolish property but because they want to abolish poverty.
The most important thing is to know how to behave under pressure.
To believe in duty is easy; the difficulty lies in knowing exactly what it is.
The things you have to learn before you can do the things you have to do.
Our only business now is to discover the limits of the possible; and, once that is done, everything else will fall into place.
The one thing needful for success is confidence.
A man should never be ashamed of what he knows, except when it proves too much.
In a time of action, it’s the pause that counts; in a time of doubt, it’s the motion that matters.
The best way to predict the future is to create it
I think the book was a plea for a particular way of life, and it has been misinterpreted as a tract for slavery. But I hope I am not without understanding for those who are not as well off as we are.
Genius is intelligence having the power of expression
The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can’t be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it
A man’s value to the human race is proportional to his capacity for suffering
The main stumbling block in the way of invention is the justified fear that others will steal one’s ideas
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong
Any nobler motive than has been suggested does not lend any support to my statement but rather destroys it by calling attention to it
The best way out is always through
The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.
You don’t really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.
When we talk of a free press, we are really talking about one person, and one person only – the press – who is entirely free to say anything he pleases.
It is your duty to be fair.
The man who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the man who is doing it should not have his doubts dismissed.
This is no time for ease and election; now is the time for sweat and labor.
The same Curiosity which carried Columbus across the Atlantic has carried the Wright brothers across the sky.
When you’ve seen one decommissioned aircraft carrier, you’ve seen them all
The world of reality is not imaginary, nor even illusory: it is as real as a pound of liver
It is always easier to build than to destroy
There are no facts, only interpretations.
The infinite cannot be contained within finite means
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it
There is no such thing as an ignorant question, just an ignorant person
The wider the general’s mind, the narrower the point you can make to him
When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that some idea is impossible, he is almost always correct
If we must choose between empires, let us give preference to those which allow for internal dissent and change
There are no facts, only interpretations of facts
The further you look into the past, the further back you see
A people without a history is like a house without rooms
We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover for themselves
There are no facts, only interpretations of facts
The man who knows nothing is less likely to be satisfied than his neighbor with two heads and all his other ailments
The world is much more important than anyone issue or any one person
The only people who are ignorant of history are the school children
If mother is right, then father must be wrong
The first rule of politics: never get yourself in a place where you can’t get out…
The reason there is so much emotional disturbance among human beings is that they are all very close to the same level of intelligence.
No matter how much you plan, the world will find a thousand ways to ruin your plans and go it is the way.
There is no feeling like coming up with the right answer to a problem you have struggled with for a long time.
People who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
If you can’t change your fate, change the way you think about it
George Bernard Shaw Quotes on Success
“A man of great common sense and good taste.” – George Bernard Shaw
“He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches.” – George Bernard Shaw
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw
“The golden rule is that there are no golden rules.” – George Bernard Shaw
“What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts.” – George Bernard Shaw
Home is where one starts from. As we grow older, our powers of retention increase, and our powers of recovery decrease. We forget the names of people and places that we knew well and remember with difficulty tyesterday’s events – George Bernard Shaw
“The secret to success is not doing what you like, but liking what you have to do.” – George Bernard Shaw
“A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.” – George Bernard Shaw
“When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity.” – George Bernard Shaw
“It is part of the secret of life that you cannot go through life with your eyes shut.” – George Bernard Shaw
“If it is not wrong to forbid to others what you do not like yourself, how can you expect them to follow any rule at all?” – George Bernard Shaw
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw
“The object of life is redemption and self-perfection, and it is only when we have attained that object that we are free to die.” – George Bernard Shaw
“A popular idea may rule the multitude for a time, but a good idea rules forever.” – George Bernard Shaw
“An orderly mind is the soul of order, and the soul of order is the element of well-being, prosperity and success: a mind without emotions or processes is but dead machinery.” – George Bernard Shaw
“I am my own best friend, and I should be ashamed to take too much credit for it.” – George Bernard Shaw
“I am convinced that there is something divine about laughter. When a man can laugh at himself, he can begin all over again.” – George Bernard Shaw
“The strange thing about human nature is that often it is the worst people who make the best friends.” – George Bernard Shaw
“A well-bred man may have no character or ideals of his own. He simply has people whom he can use as he pleases.” – George Bernard Shaw
“The true genius of morality consists in having your conscience agree with your judgment.
George Bernard Shaw Quotes on the unreasonable man.
Unreasonable man? Yes. In the sense that he would not do as others do.
Unreasonable man? Yes, Well, what is it to be reasonable?
Unreasonable man? He is so unreasonable that he does not even know what reason means!
Unreasonable man? Aye, he is unreasonable – for an unreasonable being can only be measured by another’s understanding of the word; and that other could never understand him.”
George Bernard Shaw Quotes on communication
Communication is our great source of misunderstanding.
He who can’t communicate can’t converse.
The flow of energy from a source in the present to an object or goal in the future is called communication.
One word frees us from all the weight and pain of life: That word is love
Humanity would lose much that makes life worth living if conversation were allowed to die away, as a mere ‘semi-art.’
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil but by those who watch them without doing anything.
All great truths begin as blasphemies.
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts.
You’re never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream
If a hundred people are thinking alike, there must be something wrong with them.
We cannot control the wind, but we can adjust the sail: it is our thoughts, not our conditions, which have set the limits to our possibilities.
All humans share some common needs and barriers ,which create a struggle for food, security ,and recognition. When these barriers are overcome, we have communication (communication communicates)
In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.
That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do, not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but our power to do is increased.
The point of modern politics is to substitute words for guns.
The man who cannot speak the language of his own country is always at a disadvantage; When he tries to use his mother tongue in a foreign land, his embarrassment is very much increased from the difficulty of finding words that convey his precise meaning.
The very essence of romance is uncertainty. It is not that one has hope, but that one does not know: it is hoping against hope, despite reason and experience.
The voice of duty is seldom musical, but it is never silent.
The shortest way to do many things is to only one thing at a time.
To overcome resistance requires finesse rather than force: subtlety rather than shouting; humanity rather than harshness; and self-mastery rather than domination.
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, learn to dance around it
Love is the only reality that illuminates and ennobles the whole of life. Love is the only thing that can make life really worth living.
Nature abhors a vacuum, lest it is filled with a lesser man.
The word “harmony” means harmony in discord; that is the secret of art and music.
Successful people are often great liars: sad but true: they compensate for their emotional discomfort by creating an enormous amount of noise.
Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run.
There is no passion to be found playing small- when you are committed to an outcome, and you become willing to risk everything for it.
Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do, not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased.
