George Bernard Shaw Quotes
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Fine art is the subtlest, the most seductive, the most effective instrument of moral propaganda in the world, excepting only the example of personal conduct; and I waive even this exception in favor of the art of the stage, because it works by exhibiting examples of personal conduct made intelligible and moving to crowds of unobservant unreflecting people to whom real life means nothing.
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There are two things necessary to Salvation.... Money and gunpowder.
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There is the eternal war between those who are in the world for what they can get out of it and those who are in the world to make it a better place for everybody to live in.
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Don't order any black things. Rejoice in his memory; and be radiant: leave grief to the children. Wear violet and purple. Be patient with the poor people who will snivel: they don't know; and they think they will live for ever, which makes death a division instead of a bond.
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A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.
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A man of genius is not a man who sees more than other men do. On the contrary, it is very often found that he is absentminded andobserves much less than other people.... Why is it that the public have such an exaggerated respect for him--after he is dead? The reason is that the man of genius understands the importance of the few things he sees.
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I make a fortune from criticizing the policy of the government, and then hand it over to the government in taxes to keep it going.
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It is said that every people has the Government it deserves. It is more to the point that every Government has the electorate it deserves; for the orator of the front bench can edify or debauch an ignorant electorate at will.
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Martyrdom: The only way a man can become famous without ability.
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If more than 10% of the people like a painting, you can be sure it's bad.
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Religion is a great force - the only real motive force in the world; but what you fellows don't understand is that you must get at a man through his own religion and not through yours.
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An interesting play cannot in the nature of things mean anything but a play in which problems of conduct and character of personalimportance to the audience are raised and suggestively discussed.
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Shall I turn up the light for you? No, give me deeper darkness. Money is not made in the light.
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My situation is a solemn one: life is offered to me on the condition of eating beefsteaks. But death is better than cannibalism. My will contains directions for my funeral, which will be followed, not by mourning coaches, but by oxen, sheep, flocks of poultry, and a small traveling aquarium of live fish, all wearing white scarves in honor of the man who perished rather than eat his fellow creatures. It will be, without the exception of Noah's Ark, the most remarkable thing of its kind ever seen.
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The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.
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Never repeat old grievances.
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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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Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads.
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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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The notion that disarmament can put a stop to war is contradicted by the nearest dogfight.
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All evolution in thought and conduct must at first appear as heresy and misconduct.
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We are compelled by the theory of God's already achieved perfection to make Him a devil as well as a god, because of the existenceof evil. The god of love, if omnipotent and omniscient, must be the god of cancer and epilepsy as well.... Whoever admits that anything living is evil must either believe that God is malignantly capable of creating evil, or else believe that God has made many mistakes in His attempts to make a perfect being.
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Paradoxes are the only truths.
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People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.