George Bernard Shaw

(Irish playwright and 1935 Nobel prize winner; born 1856; died 1950)

A lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it; it would be hell on earth. [Select]

{Category: Happiness and Misery}

A reasonable man adapts himself to suit his environment. An unreasonable man persists in attempting to adapt his environment to suit himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. [Select]

{Categories: Altruism and Cynicism, Vice and Virtue}

Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius. [Select]

{Category: Wisdom and Ignorance}

Crude classifications and false generalizations are the curse of organized life. [Select]

{Category: Wisdom and Ignorance}

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

{Category: Law and Politics}

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

{Category: Science and Religion}

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

{Category: Vice and Virtue}

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well dance with it. [Select]

{Category: Vice and Virtue}

It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid. [Select]

{Categories: Altruism and Cynicism, Vice and Virtue}

My father must have had some elementary education, for he could read and write and keep accounts inaccurately. [Select]

{Category: Wisdom and Ignorance}

Poverty doesn't bring unhappiness; it brings degradation. [Select]

{Categories: Happiness and Misery, Wealth and Poverty}

The longer I live the more I see that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains that I have so humbly taken to verify my notions have only wasted my time. [Select]

{Category: Wisdom and Ignorance}

The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it. [Select]

{Category: Altruism and Cynicism}

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. [Select]

{Category: Success and Failure}

There are some experiences in life which should not be demanded twice from any man, and one of them is listening to the Brahms Requiem. [Select]

{Category: Art and Literature}

There is no sincerer love than the love of food. [Select]

{Category: Food and Drink}

Virtue is insufficient temptation. [Select]

{Category: Vice and Virtue}

What is the matter with the poor is poverty; what is the matter with the rich is uselessness. [Select]

{Category: Wealth and Poverty}

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

{Categories: Success and Failure, Work and Recreation}

When a man wants to murder a tiger, it's called sport; when the tiger wants to murder him, it's called ferocity. [Select]

{Category: Altruism and Cynicism}

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