George Bernard Shaw

Playwright, Critic

George Bernard Shaw was a playwright and critic known for his sharp wit and social critiques, particularly in works like 'Pygmalion' and 'Saint Joan.'

Born
July 26, 1856
Died
November 2, 1950
Quotes
1.3K
Rank
#59

Quote collection

George Bernard Shaw quotes (page 49 of 68)

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"The policy of letting things alone, in the practical sense that the Government should never interfere with business or go into business itself, is called Laisser-faire by economists and politicians. It has broken down so completely in practice that it is now discredited; but it was all the fashion in politics a hundred years ago, and is still influentially advocated by men of business and their backers who naturally would like to be allowed to make money as they please without regard to the interest of the public."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"Do not mistake your objection to defeat for an objection to fighting, your objection to being a slave for an objection to slavery, your objection to not being as rich as your neighbor for an objection to poverty. The cowardly, the insubordinate, and the envious share your objections."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"When you read a biography remember that the truth is never fit for publication."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"It is not the number of years we have behind us, but the number we have before us, that makes us careful and responsible and determined to find out the truth about everything."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"If you do not say a thing in an irritating way, you may as well not say it at all because people will not trouble themselves about anything that does not trouble them."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"When a lion meets another with a louder roar, the first lion thinks the last a bore."

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"Affection between adults - if they are really adult in mind and not merely grown up children - and creatures so relatively selfish and cruel as children necessarily are without knowing it or meaning it, cannot be called natural."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"Anarchism is a game at which the police can beat you."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"The medical profession (is) a conspiracy to hide its own shortcomings. No doubt the same may be said of all professions. They are all conspiracies against the laity... (U)ntil there is a practicable alternative to blind trust in the doctor, the truth about the doctor is so terrible that we dare not face it."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"You have a choice of trusting the natural stability of gold, or the honesty and intelligence of members of government."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"The criminal law is no use to decent people."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"I don't. I look my age; and I am my age. It is the other people who look older than they are. What can you expect from people who eat corpses and drink spirits?"

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"When the horrors of anarchy force us to set up laws that forbid us to fight and torture one another for sport, we still snatch at every excuse for declaring individuals outside the protection of law and torturing them to our hearts content."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"Sherlock Holmes was a drug addict without a single amiable trait."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"I am the most spontaneous speaker in the world because every word, every gesture, and every retort has been carefully rehearsed."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"I am justified. For I chose wisdom and the knowledge of good and evil ; and now there is no evil; and wisdom and good are one. It is enough."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"I hate performers who debase great works of art; I long for their annihilation."

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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
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"For nearly twenty years I have been a published author... But I have never yet seen a book of mine offered for sale in a shop window."

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