The Best George Bernard Shaw quotes

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There are some people in this world who seem to have a knack for everything they do. George Bernard Shaw is one of those people. A playwright, critic, and political activist, Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1856 and never stopped working until his death in 1950. This post will explore the many highlights of Shaw’s life and work.

Here are the deepest Poverty, Love, Time, Human Beings, Life, World, Learning quotes from George Bernard Shaw, and much more.

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About George Bernard Shaw

birth of the author

Born:
26 July 1856

death of the author

Died:
2 November 1950

occupation of the author

Occupation:
Playwright, Critic, Polemicist, Political Activist

country of the author

Nationality:
British

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW QUOTES ABOUT THE WORLD

Some people look at the world and say ‘why?’ Some people look at the world and say ‘why not?’ โ€” George Bernard Shaw

If there was nothing wrong in the world there wouldn’t be anything for us to do. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Money is a most important thing in the world. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

if there was nothing wrong in the world there wouldn t be anything for us to do George Bernard Shaw quote

Syllables govern the world. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Taxes are the chief business of a conqueror of the world. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The world is populated in The main by people who should not exist. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

A man’s interest in the world is only an overflow from his interest in himself. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

in this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it George Bernard Shaw quote

In an ugly and unhappy world the richest man can purchase nothing but ugliness and unhappiness. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

My way of joking is to tell the truth. It’s the funniest joke in the world. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The most tragic thing in the world is a man of genius who is not a man of honor. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

At present there is not a single credible established religion in the world. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

money is a most important thing in the world George Bernard Shaw quote

A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Old men are dangerous: it doesn’t matter to them what is going to happen to the world. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Remember that the progress of the world depends on your knowing better than your elders. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Why is George Bernard Shaw famous?

George Bernard Shaw is famous for his role in revolutionizing comedic drama. He was also a literary critic and a prominent British socialist.
Shawโ€™s most financially successful work, Pygmalion, was adapted into the popular Broadway musical My Fair Lady.

Source

Telling the truth is the funniest joke in the world. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

You’ll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

syllables govern the world George Bernard Shaw quote

The best reformers The world has ever seen are those who commence on Themselves. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

What the world calls originality is only an unaccustomed method of tickling it. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW QUOTES ON LIFE

Life would be tolerable but for its amusements. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

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Heartbreak is life educating us. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you’ll find you’ve done it. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

life would be tolerable but for its amusements George Bernard Shaw quote

Life is a first draft… with NO rewrite. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

I no longer desire happiness: life is nobler than that. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Of all the damnable waste of human life that ever was invented, clerking is the worst. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Home life is no more natural to us than a cage is natural to a cockatoo. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Liberty is the breath of life to nations. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

heartbreak is life educating us George Bernard Shaw quote

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage: it can be delightful. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The great advantage of a hotel is that it is a refuge from home life. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

I assume that to prevent illness in later life, you should never have been born at all. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Dancing is a very crude attempt to get into the rhythm of life. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

life is a first draft with no rewrite George Bernard Shaw quote

What is life but a series of inspired follies. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The joy in life is to be used for a purpose. I want to be used up when I die. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The greatest thing in life is to die youngโ€“but delay it as long as possible. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Life is too short for men to take it seriously. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Our lives are shaped not as much by our experiences as by our expectations. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

i no longer desire happiness life is nobler than that George Bernard Shaw quote

Crude classifications and false generalizations are the curse of organized life. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Life levels all men. Death reveals the eminent. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW QUOTES ABOUT POVERTY

I hate the poor and look forward eagerly to their extermination. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Very few people can afford to be poor. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

i hate the poor and look forward eagerly to their extermination George Bernard Shaw quote

What is the matter with the poor is poverty; What is the matter with the rich is uselessness. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Higgins. Have you no morals, man? DOOLITTLE [unabashed] Cant afford them, Governor. Neither could you if you was as poor as me. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

It is the first duty of every man not to be poor. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

If a man is indolent, let him be poor. If he is drunken, let him be poor…. Alsoโ€“โ€“somewhat inconsistentlyโ€“โ€“blessed are the poor! โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Our first duty, to which every other consideration should be sacrificed, is not to be poor. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

very few people can afford to be poor George Bernard Shaw quote

I am a gentleman: I lIve by robbIng the poor. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Nothing is more dangerous than a poor doctor: not even a poor employer or a poor landlord. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

What was George Bernard Shawโ€™s early life like?

George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, as the youngest of three children.

He was raised in genteel poverty, and his motherโ€™s career as a professional singer influenced his interest in music, art, and literature.

Source

I am a brigand: I live by robbing the rich.’ ‘I am a gentleman: I live by robbing the poor. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The poor sillyโ€“clever Irishman takes off his hat to God’s Englishman. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The greatest evils and the worst of crimes is poverty; our first duty, a duty to which every other consideration should be sacrificed, is not to be poor. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

it is the first duty of every man not to be poor George Bernard Shaw quote

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW QUOTES ABOUT LEARNING

If you teach a man anything, he will never learn. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

We learn from history that we learn nothing from history. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The churches must learn humility as well as teach it. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

God made the world as an artist and that is why the world must learn from its artists. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

if you teach a man anything he will never learn George Bernard Shaw quote

Experience fails to teach where there is no desire to learn. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The lesson intended by an author is hardly ever the lesson the world chooses to learn from his book. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The politician who once had to learn to flatter Kings has now to learn how to fascinate, amuse, coax, humbug, frighten, or otherwise strike the fancy of the electorate. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

You don’t learn to hold your own in the world by standing on guard, but by attacking, and getting well hammered yourself. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

we learn from history that we learn nothing from history George Bernard Shaw quote

It is a monstrous thing to force a child to learn Latin or Greek or mathematics on the ground that they are an indispensable gymnastic for the mental powers. It would be monstrous even if it were true. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Redundant Thematics

In George Bernard Shaw Statements

love
woman
world
time
life
human
poor
learn

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW QUOTES ABOUT LOVE

Who are those we love? Only those we do not hate. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

It is most unwise for people in love to marry. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

A love affair should always be a honeymoon. And the only way to make sure of that is to keep changing the man; for the same man can never keep it up. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

How did George Bernard Shaw start writing plays?

George Bernard Shaw wrote rather unmemorable fiction throughout his 20s and early 30s.

In 1885 the drama critic William Archer recruited Shaw to write book, art, and musical reviews in various publications.

In 1895 Shaw began writing for the Saturday Review as a theatre critic, and from there he began to write his first plays. .
Source

If pity is akin to love, gratitude is akin to the other thing. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

who are those we love only those we do not hate George Bernard Shaw quote

First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Be as romantic as you please about love … but you mustn’t be romantic about money. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

There is no sincerer love than the love of food. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Englishmen hate Liberty and Equality too much to understand them. But every Englishman loves a pedigree. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Opera is when a tenor and soprano want to make love, but are prevented from doing so by a baritone. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

it is most unwise for people in love to marry George Bernard Shaw quote

If you begin by sacrificing yourself to those you love, you will end by hating those to whom you have sacrificed yourself. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Love is an appetite which, like all other appetites, is destroyed for the moment by its gratification. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The love of money is The root of all virtue. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

My heart, my heart, be whole and free: Love is thine only enemy. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

if pity is akin to love gratitude is akin to the other thing George Bernard Shaw quote

We all go about longing for love: it is the first need of our natures, the loudest cry of our hearts. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue, and abiding love. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Only in books has mankind known perfect truth, love and beauty. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The ideal love affair should be conducted by post. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The perfect love affair is one which is conducted entirely by post. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

first love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity George Bernard Shaw quote

Being hurt by someone you truly care about leaves a hole in you heart that only love can fill. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

What themes did George Bernard Shaw explore in his work?

George Bernard Shawโ€™s plays are thematically diverse.

He wove threads of humour and romance between analyses of contemporary hypocrisies and social tensions.

About the beginning of the 20th century, Shaw began affixing lengthy prefaces to his plays that engaged more deeply with their philosophical foundations

Source

I love little children too but I don’t cut off their heads and stick them in vases. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW QUOTES ABOUT TIME

Time enough to think of the future when you haven’t any future to think of. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

We must not stay as we are, doing always what was done last time; or we shall stick in the mud. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

time enough to think of the future when you haven t any future to think of George Bernard Shaw quote

We are the masters at the moment, and not only at the moment, but for a very long time to come. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The thought of two thousand people crunching celery at the same time horrified me. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and about all time. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Every dream is a prophecy: every jest is an earnest in the womb of Time. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

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. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough George Bernard Shaw quote

A veteran journalist has never had time to think twice before he writes. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Vegetarians claim to be immune from most diseases but they have been known to die from time to time. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

It seems as though every time you learn something new you have to give up something. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

I do not, like the Fundamentalists, believe that creation stopped six thousand years ago after a week of hard work. Creation is going on all the time. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

the thought of two thousand people crunching celery at the same time horrified me George Bernard Shaw quote

Once there was a time when all people believed in God and the church ruled. This time is called the Dark Ages. He who can, does. He who cannot teaches. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The only sensible person is my tailor. He measures me anew each time he sees me. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

A learned man is an idler who kills time by study. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

How was George Bernard Shaw involved in the politics of his time?



In the mid-1880s George Bernard Shaw joined the Fabian Society, a newly formed socialist club for middle-class intellectuals hoping to transform English society through culture.

He remained a socialist for the rest of his life. He also became a pacifist and an antiwar activist, attracting much criticism during World War I.
Source

A leArned mAn is An idler who kills time with study. bewAre of his fAlse knowledge it is more dAngerous thAn ignorAnce. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Don’t waste time collecting other people’s autographs; rather devote it to making your own autograph worth collecting. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

every dream is a prophecy every jest is an earnest in the womb of time George Bernard Shaw quote

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

You may well ask me why…I took the time to write [books]. I can only reply that I do not know. There was no why about it. I had to: that was all. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW QUOTES ON HUMAN BEINGS

Marriage is the most licentious of human institutions. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

I can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

marriage is the most licentious of human institutions George Bernard Shaw quote

Our ideals, like the gods of old, are constantly demanding human sacrifices. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

When I speak of The Case for Equality I mean human equality; and that, of course, can only mean one thing: it means equality of income. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The natural term of the affection of the human animal for its offspring is six years. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Unless the law of marriage were first made human, it could never become divine. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

To me the sole hope of human salvation lies in teaching. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

our ideals like the gods of old are constantly demanding human sacrifices George Bernard Shaw quote

Human misery is so appalling nowadays that if we allowed ourselves to dwell on it we should only add imaginary miseries of our own to the real miseries of others without doing them any good. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Confusing monogamy with morality has done more to destroy the conscience of the human race than any other error. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Vivisection is a social evil because if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

The confusing of marriage with morality has done more to destroy the conscience of the human race than any other single error. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Nature holds no brief for the human experiment; it must stand or fall by its results. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

I was convinced that Ceylon is the cradle of the human race because everybody there looks an original. All other nations are obviously mass produced. โ€” George Bernard Shaw

Wasting Life?

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