George Bernard Shaw Quotes
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George Bernard Shaw, the acclaimed playwright and critic, was celebrated for his sharp wit and incisive observations on society, politics, and human nature. His quotes reflect his humor, intelligence, and unwavering commitment to challenging conventional thinking. Together, they offer thought-provoking insights, clever commentary, and timeless wisdom that continue to inspire reflection and dialogue.
The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation, because occupation means pre-occupation; and the pre-occupied person is neither happy nor unhappy, but simply alive and active. That is why it is necessary to happiness that one should be tired.
From Misalliance
The reason why the continental European is, to the Englishman or American, so surprisingly ignorant of the Bible, is that the authorized English version is a great work of literary art, and the continental versions are comparatively artless.
From Misalliance
He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
From Man and Superman
Yes, a lifetime of happiness. If it were only the first half hour's happiness, Tavy, I would buy it for you with my last penny. But a lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.
From Man and Superman
Criminals do not die by the hands of the law. They die by the hands of other men.
From Man and Superman
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends.
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.
From Mrs. Warren's Profession
There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.
From Man and Superman
In heaven an angel is no one in particular.
The play was a great success, but audience was a dismal failure.
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.
From Man and Superman
My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world.
From John Bull's Other Island
I’m an atheist and I thank God for it.
The man with toothache thinks everyone happy whose teeth are sound. The poverty stricken man makes the same mistake about the rich man.
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.
From Immaturity
While browsing in a second-hand bookshop one day, George Bernard Shaw was amused to find a copy of one of his own works which he himself had inscribed for a friend: "To ----, with esteem, George Bernard Shaw."
He immediately purchased the book and returned it to the friend with a second inscription: "With renewed esteem, George Bernard Shaw.
I hear you say 'Why?' Always 'Why?' You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?
From Back to Methuselah
Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
You see things; you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?
From Back to Methuselah
Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.
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. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality of happiness, and by no means a necessity of life.
From Androcles and the Lion
A photographer is like a cod, which produces a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity.
The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation, because occupation means pre-occupation; and the pre-occupied person is neither happy nor unhappy, but simply alive and active. That is why it is necessary to happiness that one should be tired.
From Misalliance
The reason why the continental European is, to the Englishman or American, so surprisingly ignorant of the Bible, is that the authorized English version is a great work of literary art, and the continental versions are comparatively artless.
From Misalliance
He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
From Man and Superman
Yes, a lifetime of happiness. If it were only the first half hour's happiness, Tavy, I would buy it for you with my last penny. But a lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.
From Man and Superman
Criminals do not die by the hands of the law. They die by the hands of other men.
From Man and Superman
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends.
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.
From Mrs. Warren's Profession
There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.
From Man and Superman
In heaven an angel is no one in particular.
The play was a great success, but audience was a dismal failure.
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.
From Man and Superman
My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world.
From John Bull's Other Island
I’m an atheist and I thank God for it.
The man with toothache thinks everyone happy whose teeth are sound. The poverty stricken man makes the same mistake about the rich man.
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.
From Immaturity
While browsing in a second-hand bookshop one day, George Bernard Shaw was amused to find a copy of one of his own works which he himself had inscribed for a friend: "To ----, with esteem, George Bernard Shaw."
He immediately purchased the book and returned it to the friend with a second inscription: "With renewed esteem, George Bernard Shaw.
I hear you say 'Why?' Always 'Why?' You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?
From Back to Methuselah
Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
You see things; you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?
From Back to Methuselah
Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.
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. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality of happiness, and by no means a necessity of life.
From Androcles and the Lion
A photographer is like a cod, which produces a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity.
The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation, because occupation means pre-occupation; and the pre-occupied person is neither happy nor unhappy, but simply alive and active. That is why it is necessary to happiness that one should be tired.
From Misalliance
The reason why the continental European is, to the Englishman or American, so surprisingly ignorant of the Bible, is that the authorized English version is a great work of literary art, and the continental versions are comparatively artless.
From Misalliance
He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
From Man and Superman
Yes, a lifetime of happiness. If it were only the first half hour's happiness, Tavy, I would buy it for you with my last penny. But a lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.
From Man and Superman
Criminals do not die by the hands of the law. They die by the hands of other men.
From Man and Superman
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends.
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.
From Mrs. Warren's Profession
There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.
From Man and Superman
In heaven an angel is no one in particular.
The play was a great success, but audience was a dismal failure.
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.
From Man and Superman
My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world.
From John Bull's Other Island
I’m an atheist and I thank God for it.
The man with toothache thinks everyone happy whose teeth are sound. The poverty stricken man makes the same mistake about the rich man.
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.
From Immaturity
While browsing in a second-hand bookshop one day, George Bernard Shaw was amused to find a copy of one of his own works which he himself had inscribed for a friend: "To ----, with esteem, George Bernard Shaw."
He immediately purchased the book and returned it to the friend with a second inscription: "With renewed esteem, George Bernard Shaw.
I hear you say 'Why?' Always 'Why?' You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?
From Back to Methuselah
Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
You see things; you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?
From Back to Methuselah
Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.
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. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality of happiness, and by no means a necessity of life.
From Androcles and the Lion
A photographer is like a cod, which produces a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity.
