Looking for the most inspirational George Bernard Shaw quotes? Then look no further!
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. While scholarly and critical opinion about his works has varied he has regularly been rated among British dramatists as second only to William Shakespeare.
What makes George Bernard Shaw an extremely inspirational writer and historical figure is that no matter how many times he failed at writing, he kept trying until he found success.
His mother essentially supported him as he failed to become a novelist but he eventually found his creativing writing calling: Writing plays.
His most famous play, ‘Pygmalion’ was even adapted to the big screen and for Broadway, eventually earning him an Academy Award. By then, George Bernard Shaw has already established himself as a literary giant and even won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.
He stayed with his passion until he died in 1950 at the age of 94 – when he was working on yet another play.
In this collection of George Bernard quotes, you’ll find his best quotes on success.
George Bernard Shaw Quotes On Change, Life & Success
1. “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw
2. “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” – George Bernard Shaw
3. “Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.” – George Bernard Shaw
4. “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw (This is the famous George Bernard Shaw quote on being an unreasonable man.)
5. “As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.” – George Bernard Shaw
6. “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” – George Bernard Shaw
7. “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.” – George Bernard Shaw (This is one of my favourite George Bernard Shaw quotes. What’s yours? Comment below)
8. “Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.” – George Bernard Shaw
9. “People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” – George Bernard Shaw
10. “The unconscious self is the real genius. Your breathing goes wrong the moment your conscious self meddles with it.” – George Bernard Shaw
11. “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw
12. “Write your sad times in sand, write your good times in stone.” – George Bernard Shaw
13. “We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.” – George Bernard Shaw
14. “Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.” – George Bernard Shaw
15. “Life is a first draft… with NO rewrite.” – George Bernard Shaw
16. “There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart’s desire. The other is to get it.” – George Bernard Shaw
17. “Don’t lose faith. Promise yourself that you will be a success story, and I promise you that all the forces of the universe will unite to come to your aid; you might not feel today or for a while, but the longer you wait the bigger the prize.” – George Bernard Shaw
18. “Choose silence of all virtues, for by it you hear other men’s imperfections, and conceal your own.” – George Bernard Shaw
19. “We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.” – George Bernard Shaw
20. “The whole problem with the world is the fools and fanatics are always so sure of themselves, and wiser people are full of doubts.” – George Bernard Shaw
21. “Life is not meant to be easy my child, but take courage: it can be delightful.” – George Bernard Shaw
22. “Beware of false knowledge, it is more dangerous than ignorance.” – George Bernard Shaw
23. “Our lives are shaped not as much by our experiences as by our expectations.” – George Bernard Shaw
24. “I know of only one duty, and that is to love.” – George Bernard Shaw
25. “Yesterday is the past, tomorrow is the future, today is a gift – that’s why it’s called the present.” – George Bernard Shaw
26. “A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.” – George Bernard Shaw
27. “Don’t wait for the right opportunity: create it.” – George Bernard Shaw
28. “Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness but it is greatness.” – George Bernard Shaw
29. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
30. “Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.” – George Bernard Shaw
31. “Only fools repeat the same things over and over, expecting to obtain different results.” – George Bernard Shaw
32. “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” – George Bernard Shaw
33. “Experience fails to teach where there is no desire to learn.” – George Bernard Shaw
34. “The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it.” – George Bernard Shaw
35. “Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.” – George Bernard Shaw
36. “The person I miss most is the one I could have been.” – George Bernard Shaw
37. “The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.” – George Bernard Shaw
38. “A cigarette is a pinch of tobacco rolled in paper with fire at one end and a fool at the other.” – George Bernard Shaw
39. “Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get.” – George Bernard Shaw
40. “The secret to success is to offend the greatest number of people.” – George Bernard Shaw
41. “The things most people want to know about are usually none of their business.” – George Bernard Shaw
42. “The best way to get your point across is to entertain.” – George Bernard Shaw
43. “Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life.” – George Bernard Shaw
44. “He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.” – George Bernard Shaw
45. “Grain by grain, a loaf. Stone upon stone, a palace.” – George Bernard Shaw
46. “The only way to avoid being miserable is not to have enough leisure to wonder whether you are happy or not.” – George Bernard Shaw
47. “It is not enough to know what is good: you must be able to do it.” – George Bernard Shaw
48. “Treat a friend as a person who may someday become your enemy; an enemy as a person who may someday become your friend.” – George Bernard Shaw
49. “The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.” – George Bernard Shaw
50. “Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.” – George Bernard Shaw
51. “If you begin by sacrificing yourself to those you love, you will end by hating those to whom you have sacrificed yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
52. “We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.” – George Bernard Shaw
53. “I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.” – George Bernard Shaw
54. “Remember that the progress of the world depends on your knowing better than your elders.” – George Bernard Shaw
55. “It is the first duty of every man not to be poor.” – George Bernard Shaw
56. “When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.” – George Bernard Shaw
57. “Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
58. “We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said to be.” – George Bernard Shaw
59. “Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” – George Bernard Shaw
60. “When the master has come to do everything through the slave, the slave becomes his master, since he cannot live without him.” – George Bernard Shaw
61. “The sound body is the product of the sound mind.” – George Bernard Shaw
62. “Happy is the man who can make a living by his hobby.” – George Bernard Shaw
63. “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” – George Bernard Shaw
64. “A man who loses his money gains, at the least, experience, and sometimes, something better.” – George Bernard Shaw
65. “I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.” – George Bernard Shaw
66. “Lack of money is the root of all evil.” – George Bernard Shaw
67. “To be a champion you must live like one.” – George Bernard Shaw
Did you like these inspirational quotes?
As these George Bernard Shaw quotes illustrate, Shaw himself was an unreasonable man. He wanted to become a writer and influence the world. His early failures and criticism may have been enough to make most people give up on their dreams but not him. I hope his words inspired you to persist with your passions.
What are your favorite George Bernard Shaw quotes? Let me know in the comments below and please share this post.
