George Bernard Shaw Quotes
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Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.
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Keep away from books and from men who get their ideas from books, and your own books will always be fresh.
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There are some experiences in life which should not be demanded twice from any man, and one of them is listening to the Brahms Requiem.
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I do not know what I think until I write it.
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I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's business on earth, like the male spider who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in his courtship. I like the state of continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind.
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Property, said Proudhon, is theft. This is the only perfect truism that has been uttered on the subject.
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The natural term of the affection of the human animal for its offspring is six years.
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War can so easily be gilt with romance and heroism and solemn national duty and patriotism and the like by persons whose superficial literary and oratorical talent covers an abyss of Godforsaken folly.
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When people shake their heads because we are living in a restless age, ask them how they would like to life in a stationary one, and do without change...
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Schools and schoolmasters, as we have them today, are not popular as places of education and teachers, but rather prisons and turnkeys in which children are kept to prevent them disturbing and chaperoning their parent.
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All industries are brought under the control of such people [film producers] by Capitalism. If the capitalists let themselves be seduced from their pursuit of profits to the enchantments of art, they would be bankrupt before they knew where they were. You cannot combine the pursuit of money with the pursuit of art.
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A newspaper, not having to act on its descriptions and reports, but only to sell them to idly curious people, has nothing but honor to lose by inaccuracy and non-veracity.
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Instead of Otello being an Italian opera written in the style of Shakespeare, Othello is a play written by Shakespeare in the style of Italian opera.
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No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious.
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Like all young men, you greatly exaggerate the difference between one young woman and another.
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The great advantage of a hotel is that it is a refuge from home life.
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Don't think you can frighten me by telling me that I am alone. France is alone. God is alone. And the loneliness of God is His strength.
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We must all share in the evils of the world or move to another planet.
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Man gives every reason for his conduct save one, every excuse for his crimes save one, every plea for his safety save one; and that one is his cowardice...
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When a man of normal habits is ill, everyone hastens to assure him that he is going to recover. When a vegetarian is ill (which fortunately very seldom happens), everyone assures him that he is going to die, and that they told him so, and that it serves him right. They implore him to take at least a little gravy, so as to give himself a chance of lasting out the night...
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It is very doubtful whether man is enough of a political animal to produce a good, sensible, serious and efficient constitution. All the evidence is against it.
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Those who are looking for paradise on Earth should come and see Dubrovnik.
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Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
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The open mind never acts: when we have done our utmost to arrive at a reasonable conclusion, we still must close our minds for the moment with a snap, and act dogmatically on our conclusions.