227 Famous Quotes by George Bernard Shaw
7/26/1856 - 11/2/1950
Also Known As:
Bernard George
George B Shaw
GBS
Professions:
Information:
About George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. He was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Issues which engaged Shaw's attention included education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.
He was most angered by what he perceived as the exploitation of the working class. An ardent socialist, Shaw wrote many brochures and speeches for the Fabian Society. He became an accomplished orator in the furtherance of its causes, which included gaining equal rights for men and women, alleviating abuses of the working class, rescinding private ownership of productive land, and promoting healthy lifestyles. For a short time he was active in local politics, serving on the London County Council.
In 1898, Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, a fellow Fabian, whom he survived. They settled in Ayot St Lawrence in a house now called Shaw's Corner. Shaw died there, aged 94, from chronic problems exacerbated by injuries he incurred by falling from a ladder.
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Revolutionary moments attract those who are not good enough for
established institutions as well as those who are too good for
them.
Revolution
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: Androcles and the Lion
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Revolutions have never lightened the burden of tyranny: they have
only shifted it to another shoulder.
Revolution
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: Man and Superman--"The Revolutionist's Handbook"
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A man who has no office to go to--I don't care who he is--is a
trial of which you can have no conception.
Idleness
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: The Irrational Knot (ch. XVIII)
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We live in an atmosphere of shame. We are ashamed of everything
that is real about us; ashamed of ourselves, of our relatives, of
our incomes, of our accents, of our opinion, of our experience,
just as we are ashamed of our naked skins.
Shame
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: Man and Superman (act I)
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Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it
ceases to be serious when people laugh.
Humor
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: The Doctor's Dilemma
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My way of joking is to tell the truth. It is the funniest joke
in the world.
Humor
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: John Bull's Other Island (act II)
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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.
Thinking
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: Androcles and the Lion
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A true artist will let his wife starve, his children go barefoot,
his mother drudge for his living at seventy, sooner than work at
anything but his art.
Artists
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: Man and Superman
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Of all human struggles there is none so treacherous and
remorseless as the struggle between the artist man and the mother
woman.
Artists
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: Man and Superman
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Those who talk most about the blessings of marriage and the
constancy of its vows are the very people who declare that if the
chain were broken and the prisoners were left free to choose, the
whole social fabric would fly asunder. You can't have the
argument both ways. If the prisoner is happy, why lock him in?
If he is not, why pretend that he is?
Marriage
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: Man and Superman
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Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation
with the maximum of opportunity.
Marriage
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: Man and Superman--Maxims for Revolutionists
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My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you'll
be happy; if not, you'll become a philosopher.
Marriage
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: Man and Superman--Maxims for Revolutionists
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The one point on which all women are in furious secret rebellion
against the existing law is the saddling of the right to a child
with the obligation to become the servant of a man.
Motherhood
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: Getting Married
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Every drunken skipper trusts to Providence. But one of the ways
of Providence with drunken skippers is to run them on the rocks.
Shipwreck
Quotes, by George Bernard Shaw , Source: Heartbreak House (at III)
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