George Bernard Shaw Playwright

Life would be tolerable but for its amusements. life

Clever and attractive women do not want to vote they are willing to let men govern as long as they govern men. men & women

She had lost the art of conversation but not, unfortunately, the power of speech. art & power

No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means. religion

Baseball has the great advantage over cricket of being sooner ended. great & sports

The things most people want to know about are usually none of their business. business

Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh. funny & life

The secret to success is to offend the greatest number of people. success

Do not waste your time on Social Questions. What is the matter with the poor is Poverty what is the matter with the rich is Uselessness. society & time

Every man over forty is a scoundrel. age

All my life affection has been showered upon me, and every forward step I have made has been taken in spite of it. life

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. success & time

There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it. life

Old men are dangerous: it doesn't matter to them what is going to happen to the world. men

When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work. failure & work

Give a man health and a course to steer, and he'll never stop to trouble about whether he's happy or not. health

Men have to do some awfully mean things to keep up their respectability. men

You are going to let the fear of poverty govern you life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live. fear & life

Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends. food

We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it. happiness

I'm an atheist and I thank God for it. God

We are the only real aristocracy in the world: the aristocracy of money. money

The truth is, hardly any of us have ethical energy enough for more than one really inflexible point of honor. truth

The art of government is the organisation of idolatry. art & government

Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous. peace & war

All great truths begin as blasphemies. great

If all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion. business

Choose silence of all virtues, for by it you hear other men's imperfections, and conceal your own. men

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. imagination

What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child. knowledge

Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough. time

We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience. experience & men

A little learning is a dangerous thing, but we must take that risk because a little is as much as our biggest heads can hold. learning

The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech. power

Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience. experience & men

Lack of money is the root of all evil. money

Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable. art

Oh, the tiger will love you. There is no sincerer love than the love of food. food & love

I am afraid we must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy. best

A man of great common sense and good taste - meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage. courage, good & great

Parentage is a very important profession, but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of the children. fitness & parenting

It is most unwise for people in love to marry. love

The love of economy is the root of all virtue. love

Capitalism has destroyed our belief in any effective power but that of self interest backed by force. power

Perhaps the greatest social service that can be rendered by anybody to the country and to mankind is to bring up a family. family

Power does not corrupt men fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power. men & power

The great advantage of a hotel is that it is a refuge from home life. great, home & life

You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race. patriotism

Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. government

Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, very few survive. food

It's easier to replace a dead man than a good picture. good

Life levels all men. Death reveals the eminent. death, life & men

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it. learning

The British soldier can stand up to anything except the British War Office. war

Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us. good & marriage

Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done. men

The perfect love affair is one which is conducted entirely by post. love

If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience. experience, history & learning

The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and about all time. time

Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can't sleep with the window open. anniversary & marriage

Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness. happiness

A veteran journalist has never had time to think twice before he writes. time

Beware of false knowledge it is more dangerous than ignorance. knowledge & wisdom

Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart's desire the other is to get it. life

A happy family is but an earlier heaven. family

There is no subject on which more dangerous nonsense is talked and thought than marriage. marriage

Never fret for an only son, the idea of failure will never occur to him. failure

The fickleness of the women I love is only equalled by the infernal constancy of the women who love me. love & women

One man that has a mind and knows it can always beat ten men who haven't and don't. men

My reputation grows with every failure. failure

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. funny & government

The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. best, gardening & God

In a battle all you need to make you fight is a little hot blood and the knowledge that it's more dangerous to lose than to win. knowledge

First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity. love

Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue, and abiding love. beauty, knowledge, love & truth

I never thought much of the courage of a lion tamer. Inside the cage he is at least safe from people. courage

Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history. history

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. communication

If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance. best

Until the men of action clear out the talkers we who have social consciences are at the mercy of those who have none. men

Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else. love

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. life

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. life & work

Martyrdom: The only way a man can become famous without ability. famous

You use a glass mirror to see your face you use works of art to see your soul. art

When a man says money can do anything, that settles it: he hasn't got any. money

Hell is full of musical amateurs. music

Beauty is all very well at first sight but who ever looks at it when it has been in the house three days? beauty

Beauty is a short-lived tyranny. beauty & beauty

Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die do not outlive yourself. health & life

Miracles, in the sense of phenomena we cannot explain, surround us on every hand: life itself is the miracle of miracles. life

What Englishman will give his mind to politics as long as he can afford to keep a motor car? car & politics

He's a man of great common sense and good taste - meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage. courage, good & great

A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education. art, education & science

Youth is a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children. dreams

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. change

If women were particular about men's characters, they would never get married at all. men & women

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it. patriotism

Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity. marriage

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance. family

There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it. religion

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. men

An index is a great leveller. great

I would like to take you seriously, but to do so would be an affront to your intelligence. intelligence

Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree does. nature

It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics. intelligence

I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad. home & travel

Science never solves a problem without creating ten more. science

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. power

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future. future & wisdom

A perpetual holiday is a good working definition of hell. good

Home life is no more natural to us than a cage is natural to a cockatoo. home & life

Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life. life

There is no sincerer love than the love of food. food & love

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. life