Author: George Bernard Shaw Page 2

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

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Marriage

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

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Failure Problems Success

Let no one suppose that the words doctor and patient can disguise from the parties the fact that they are employer and employee.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Doctors Health

Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Death

I can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Characteristics Ideas Intelligence Success

His idea of getting hold of the right end of the stick is to snatch it from the hands of somebody who is using it effectively, and to hit him over the head with it.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Insults

Home is the girl's prison and the woman's workhouse.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Places

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

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Dance Family Past Relationships Situations Things Time

Alfred Hitchcock: One look at you and I know there's famine in the land.

Shaw’s reply: One look at you, Mr. Hitchcock, and I know who caused it.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Appearance Body Fat Insults

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can, as a rule, calculate on the support of Paul.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Government

We learn from experience that men never learn from experience.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Education Learning

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

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Baseball Sports Time

A doctor’s reputation is made by the number of eminent men who die under his care.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Death Doctors Health

England and America are two countries separated by a common language.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
America Communication England Language Places

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

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Intelligence

A drama critic is a man who leaves no turn unstoned.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Communication Entertainment Wordplay

The vertical expression of a horizontal desire legalized by music.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Dance Entertainment Music Sex

The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Characteristics People

Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Communication

If more than ten per cent of the population likes a painting, it should be burned, for it must be bad.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Art Entertainment

Alcohol… enables Parliament to do things at eleven at night that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning.

(1856 – 1950) Irish playwright & socialist
Alcohol Food/Drink