George Bernard Shaw

We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said to be.

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. On Other Peoples Expectations: The only man who behaved sensibly was my tailor; he took my measurement anew every time he saw me, while all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me.

I was a freethinker before I knew how to think.

Life is a disease; and the only difference between one man and another is the stage of the disease at which he lives. You are always at the crisis: I am always in the convalescent stage.

What use are cartridges in battle? I always carry chocolate instead.

The only secrets are the secrets that keep themselves.

Our strength grows out of our weakness.

The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.

The man is either mad, or he is making verses.

When you introduce a moral lesson, let it be brief.

I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion’s roar.

Heaven is the work of the best and kindest men and women. Hell is the work of prigs, pedants and professional truth-tellers. The world is an attempt to make the best of Heaven and Hell.

There is nothing which at once affects a man so much and so little as his own death.

Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.

I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations.

Gratitude is a debt which usually goes on accumulating like blackmail; the more you pay, the more is exacted. In time, you are made to realize that the kindness done you is become a curse and you wish it had not happened.

All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.

If you want to get what you want give up being right.

Every great man, every successful man, no matter what the field of endeavor, has known the magic that lies in these words: every adversity has the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.

He that has more knowledge than judgment, is made for another man’s use more than his own.

How could a man be satisfied with a decision between such alternatives and under such circumstances? No more than he can be satisfied with his hat, which he’s chosen from among such shapes as the resources of the age offer him, wearing it at best with a resignation which is chiefly supported by comparison.