George Bernard Shaw spoke a lot about truth and virtue. He was a firm believer that all people should be born with equal rights and worked to try and improve the conditions of those less fortunate. He always spoke his mind and here are some of his best quotes about truth:
All great truths begin as blasphemies.
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I am afraid we must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy.
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The truth sticks in our throats with all the sauces it is served with: it will never go down until we take it without any sauce at all.
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My way of joking is to tell the truth. It is the funniest joke in the world.
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Oh, well, if you want original conversations, you’d better go and talk to yourself.
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Oh, well, if you want original conversations, you’d better go and talk to yourself.
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Choose silence of all virtues, for by it you hear other men’s imperfections, and conceal your own.
Virtue is insufficient temptation.
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Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it.
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There is no satisfaction in hanging a man who does not object to it.
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A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does NOT triumph but when it is still felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him.
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Few of us have vitality enough to make any of our instincts imperious.
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The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them.
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The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
Self-sacrifice enables us to sacrifice other people without blushing.
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The secret to success is to offend the greatest number of people.
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Success covers a multitude of blunders.
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I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one’s business on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in his courtship. I like a state of continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind.
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People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. 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.
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.
The plain working truth is that it is not only good for people to be shocked occasionally, but absolutely necessary to the progress of society that they should be shocked pretty often.
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The truth is, hardly any of us have ethical energy enough for more than one really inflexible point of honour.
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When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth.
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Whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so sure of themselves, and wiser people are full of doubts.
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In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it.
Read about George Bernard Shaw’s life and career
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