George Bernard Shaw's best quotes (the ones he really wrote)
The top 3 according to 38 votes from people: The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. · Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. · Do not do unto others as you would expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.. (Updated Jul 15, 2020.)
Mostly from the Maxims for Revolutionists at the end of Man and Superman (1903): Shaw's sharpest lines with their source, and without the famous ones he never wrote, like 'two countries divided by a common language'.
Top 12
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1
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
Maxims for Revolutionists (1903). It ends: 'Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.'
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2
Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
Maxims for Revolutionists (1903).
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3
Do not do unto others as you would expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.
Maxims for Revolutionists (1903).
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4
There is no love sincerer than the love of food.
Man and Superman (1903).
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5
No man can be a pure specialist without being in the strict sense an idiot.
Maxims for Revolutionists (1903).
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6
If you begin by sacrificing yourself to those you love, you will end by hating those to whom you have sacrificed yourself.
Maxims for Revolutionists (1903).
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7
He who desires a lifetime of happiness with a beautiful woman desires to enjoy the taste of wine by keeping his mouth always full of it.
Maxims for Revolutionists (1903).
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8
Martyrdom, sir, is what these people like: it is the only way in which a man can become famous without ability.
The Devil's Disciple (1897), Act II.
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9
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
Maxims for Revolutionists (1903).
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10
In a stupid nation the man of genius becomes a god: everybody worships him and nobody does his will.
Maxims for Revolutionists (1903).
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11
Youth, which is forgiven everything, forgives itself nothing: age, which forgives itself everything, is forgiven nothing.
Maxims for Revolutionists (1903).
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12
Economy is the art of making the most of life. The love of economy is the root of all virtue.
Man and Superman (1903).
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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