55 George Bernard Shaw Quotes That Explore Truth, Humor and Society

Controversial for his time, George Bernard Shaw was unafraid to express his views in his plays, most notably in the feminist play Pygmalion. Learn more about him by reading the 55 quotes below.

George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin in 1985. When he became a man, he went to London and became a noted theatre and music critic. However, his career didn't stop with him looking from the outside in.

As many know, Shaw became one of the most prolific playwrights. Through his many plays, he expressed his controversial social and political ideas. When the 1900s finally came around, he was a permanent success story in the world of playwriting. Find out more about him by reading his 55 quotes below.

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." | Image: AmoDays

George Bernard Shaw Quotes: His Many Insights

"You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul." — George Bernard Shaw

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

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." — George Bernard Shaw

"If you have an apple and I have an apple, and we exchange these apples, then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea, and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." ― George Bernard Shaw

"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." ― George Bernard Shaw, "Man and Superman"

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "All great truths begin as blasphemies." | Image: AmoDays

"After all, the wrong road always leads somewhere." ― George Bernard Shaw

"Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time." ― George Bernard Shaw

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." ― George Bernard Shaw

"Youth is wasted on the young." ― George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "You see things, and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were, and I say 'Why not?'" | Image: AmoDays

"A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: 'Inside of me, there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.' When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, 'The one I feed the most.'" ― George Bernard Shaw

"Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." ― George Bernard Shaw

"There is always danger for those who are afraid." — George Bernard Shaw

"Confusing monogamy with morality has done more to destroy the conscience of the human race than any other error." — George Bernard Shaw

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." — George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "Man can climb to the highest summits, but he cannot dwell there long." | Image: AmoDays

"You cannot have power for good without having power for evil too. Even mother's milk nourishes murderers as well as heroes." — George Bernard Shaw

"All great truths begin as blasphemies." — George Bernard Shaw

"As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death." — George Bernard Shaw

"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." — George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." | Image: AmoDays

"I can't turn your soul on. Leave me those feelings, and you can take away the voice and the face. They are not you." — George Bernard Shaw

"A miracle, my friend, is an event that creates faith." — George Bernard Shaw

"You see things, and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were, and I say 'Why not?'" — George Bernard Shaw

"The first prison I ever saw had inscribed on it 'cease to do evil: learn to do well;' but as the inscription was on the outside, the prisoners could not read it." — George Bernard Shaw

"A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education." — George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "A fashion is nothing but an induced epidemic." | Image: AmoDays

"A lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it; it would be hell on earth." — George Bernard Shaw

"The unconscious self is the real genius. Your breathing goes wrong the moment your conscious self meddles with it." — George Bernard Shaw

"[The] power of accurate observation…is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." — George Bernard Shaw

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." — George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw Quotes on Politics and Society

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "An American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means. There is no such thing in the country." | Image: AmoDays

"Patriotism is, fundamentally, a conviction that a particular country is the best in the world because you were born in it...." ― George Bernard Shaw

"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience." — George Bernard Shaw

"There is nothing more dangerous than the conscience of a bigot." — George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." | Image: AmoDays

"England and America are two countries separated by a common language." — George Bernard Shaw

"He knows nothing, and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career." — George Bernard Shaw

"A fashion is nothing but an induced epidemic." — George Bernard Shaw

"An American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means. There is no such thing in the country." — George Bernard Shaw

"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." — George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw's Humorous Quotes

George Bernard Shaw’s quote from "Immaturity": "If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance." | Image: AmoDays

"Shall I turn up the light for you? No, give me deeper darkness. Money is not made in the light." — George Bernard Shaw

"The play was a great success, but [the] audience was a dismal failure." ― George Bernard Shaw

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend ... if you have one." — George Bernard Shaw (to Winston Churchill)

"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." — George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth." | Image: AmoDays

"Hell is full of musical amateurs." — George Bernard Shaw

"If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance." — George Bernard Shaw, "Immaturity"

"We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience." — George Bernard Shaw

"Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same."— George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "My way of joking is, to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world." | Image: AmoDays

"When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth." — George Bernard Shaw

"My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world." — George Bernard Shaw

More George Bernard Shaw Quotes

"I have my own soul. My own spark of divine fire." — George Bernard Shaw

"I do not know what I think until I write it." — George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week." | Image: AmoDays

"Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself." — George Bernard Shaw

"Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends." ― George Bernard Shaw

"Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week." — George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw’s quote: "Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself." | Image: AmoDays

Shaw's most undying play is Pygmalion, an acclaimed work of art including themes such as feminism and class. The playwright won an Academy Award after allowing the script to be used for a film.

In the early 1920s, he also won a Nobel Prize for literature, accepting the prize but refusing the money. On November 2, 1950, he passed away in his home.

If you are interested in taking on literature, you should read these 84 Neil Gaiman quotes on writing and the beautiful art of storytelling.