George Bernard Shaw was a very intelligent writer. He was highly respected and people would listen to what he had to say. Shaw understood this position of authority he had on society.
He also saw others of similar standing and questioned whether they were all worthy of their status. Here are some of Shaw’s best quotes on wisdom:
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Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.
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We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.
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The frontier between hell and heaven is only the difference between two ways of looking at things.
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In heaven an angel is nobody in particular.
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Youth, which is forgiven everything, forgives itself nothing: age, which forgives itself everything, is forgiven nothing.
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Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree does.
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This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
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Making Life means making trouble.
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Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it.
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Life would be tolerable but for its amusements.
Life is like a flame that is always burning itself out.
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Beauty is a short-lived tyranny.
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Hell, they say, is paved with good intentions.
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Nobody could stand an eternity of Heaven.
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Written over the gate here are the words ‘Leave every hope behind, ye who enter.’ Only think what a relief that is! For what is hope? A form of moral responsibility. Here there is no hope, and consequently no duty, no work, nothing to be gained by praying, nothing to be lost by doing what you like. Hell, in short is a place where you have nothing to do but amuse yourself.
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Hell is to drift; heaven is to steer.
Heaven, as conventionally conceived, is a place so inane, so dull, so useless, so miserable that nobody has ever ventured to describe a whole day in heaven, though plenty of people have described a day at the seaside.
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We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said to be.
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History, sir, will tell lies, as usual.
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Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough.
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All evolution in thought and conduct must at first appear as heresy and misconduct.
If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange 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.
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The risks of liberty we must let everyone take; but the risks of ignorance and self-helplessness are another matter.
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Read about George Bernard Shaw’s life and career