George Bernard Shaw, known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist, and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture, and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. These George Bernard Shaw quotes on politics, writing will motivate you.
Best George Bernard Shaw Quotes
- “A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “The longer I live, the more convinced am I that this planet is used by other planets as a lunatic asylum.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
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“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “This is the true joy in life: Being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, 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. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Write your Sad times in Sand,
Write your Good times in Stone.” ~ George Bernard Shaw - “People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
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“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me, there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Newspaper: A device unable to distinguish between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization.” ~ George Bernard Shaw Quotes
- “Don’t lose faith. Promise yourself that you will be a success story, and I promise you that all the forces of the universe will unite to come to your aid; you might not feel today or for a while, but the longer you wait the bigger the prize.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Experience fails to teach where there is no desire to learn.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
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“Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “A cigarette is a pinch of tobacco rolled in paper with fire at one end and a fool at the other.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “If at age 20 you are not a Communist then you have no heart. If at age 30 you are not a Capitalist then you have no brains.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get.”
- “A socialist is somebody who doesn’t have anything, and is ready to divide it up equally among everybody.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Most people do not pray; they only beg.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage: it can be delightful.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Some people look at the world and say ‘why?’ Some people look at the world and say ‘why not?'” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
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“The secret to success is to offend the greatest number of people.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Tradition will accustom people to any atrocity” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Marx’s Kapital is not a treatise on socialism; it is a gerrymand against the bourgeoisie. It was supposed to be written for the working class, but the working man respects the bourgeoisie and wants to be a bourgeoisie. Marx never got a hold of him for a moment. It was the revolting sons of the bourgeoisie itself, like myself, that painted the flag red. The middle and upper classes are the revolutionary element in society. The proletariat is the conservative element.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Those who can’t change their minds can’t change anything.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “The only person who acts sensibly is my tailor. He takes my measure anew every time he sees me. Everyone else goes by their old measurements.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
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“You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “The person I miss most is the one I could have been.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “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.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Now that we have learned to fly the air like birds, swim underwater like fish, we lack one thing – to learn to live on earth as human beings.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Islam is the best religion and Muslims are the worst followers.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “The more I see of the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Don’t wait for the right opportunity: create it.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “Life is a first draft… with NO rewrite.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
