George Bernard Shaw

Quotes are word for word from the source.

• False Liberty

  “There is no liberty before that except the liberty to live at somebody else's expense, a liberty much sought after nowadays”

  Our noteShaw criticizes the desire to live off others' labor under the guise of freedom.

• Art versus Life

  “"Where life ends," he says, very wittily, "Art begins. In youth we turn to Art, we know not why; and only when we have gone through with Art and come out on the other side, we learn to our cost that we have missed Life itself."”

  Our noteShaw discusses Wagner's realization that devotion to art can sometimes lead to missing out on actual living.

• Understanding complex structures

  “To be able to follow the music of The Ring, all that is necessary is to become familiar enough with the brief musical phrases out of which it is built to recognize them and attach a certain definite significance to them”

  Our noteShaw explains how to understand Wagner's complex musical themes.

• Vertical integration

  “he produced his own dramatic poems, thus giving dramatic integrity to opera, and making symphony articulate.”

  Our noteShaw explains how Wagner controlled both the music and the text to create a superior product.

• Local creative inspiration

  “I cannot tolerate the assumption that life and literature is so poor in these islands that we must go abroad for all dramatic material that is not common and all ideas that are not superficial.”

  Our noteShaw argues that writers do not need to look to foreign philosophers for deep or original ideas.

• Wealth as honor

  “To be wealthy, says Undershaft, is with me a point of honor for which I am prepared to kill at the risk of my own life.”

  Our noteThe character Undershaft explains his extreme commitment to avoiding poverty at all costs.

• Value of money

  “The universal regard for money is the one hopeful fact in our civilization, the one sound spot in our social conscience.”

  Our noteShaw argues that the desire for money is a healthy and necessary drive for civilization.

• Money represents life

  “Money is the most important thing in the world. It represents health, strength, honor, generosity and beauty as conspicuously and undeniably as the want of it represents illness, weakness, disgrace, meanness and ugliness.”

  Our noteShaw explains how money is the practical foundation for all positive human attributes.

• Practicality of money

  “The notion that you can earmark certain coins as tainted is an unpractical individualist superstition.”

  Our noteShaw argues against the idea that money can be morally separated from its industrial source.

• Selfless legacy

  “I do not call a Salvationist really saved until he is ready to lie down cheerfully on the scrap heap, having paid scot and lot and something over, and let his eternal life pass on to renew its youth in the battalions of the future.”

  Our noteHe defines true commitment as being willing to contribute to a cause that outlasts one's own life.

• Contextual Success

  “The characteristics that ruin a man in one class make him eminent in another. The characters that behave differently in different circumstances behave alike in similar circumstances.”

  Our noteHe explains how the same personality traits lead to different outcomes depending on the environment.

• The price of man

  “They have found that every man has his price; and they have been foolishly or corruptly taught to mistrust and despise him for that necessary and salutary condition of social existence.”

  Our noteShaw discusses how people react when they realize that even moral leaders have financial needs.

• Conscience and law

  “In short, all men are anarchists with regard to laws which are against their consciences, either in the preamble or in the penalty.”

  Our noteHe explains why individuals rebel when laws conflict with their internal moral compass.