George Bernard Shaw? Walter Winchell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A person who was enamored with celebrities wanted George Bernard Shaw to attend a social gathering. Several attempts at interesting Shaw failed. So a formal invitation was sent. Shaw appended a short reply and sent the note back: “Lord X will be at home on …
Tag Archives: George Bernard Shaw
Quote Origin: Science Can Never Solve One Problem Without Raising Ten More Problems
George Bernard Shaw? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Scientific knowledge is incomplete and tentative. Superior scientific theories regularly supersede existing theories. The knowledge provided is flawed, but the process is self-correcting and self-improving. Irish playwright and activist George Bernard Shaw bluntly stated that science was always wrong. He believed that every time science solved a …
Quote Origin: Life Is Not About Finding Yourself. Life Is About Creating Yourself
George Bernard Shaw? Mary McCarthy? Thomas Szasz? Sydney J. Harris? Helen A. De Rosis? Victoria Y. Pellegrino? Karen Horney? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: For decades pop-psychology has emphasized the task of “finding yourself”, i.e., identifying your deepest values, abilities, feelings, and desires. Yet, these qualities are not immutable. Instead, living fully means endlessly recreating …
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Quote Origin: It Is the Soul’s Duty To Be Loyal To Its Own Desires
Rebecca West? George Bernard Shaw? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The prominent British author and literary critic Rebecca West once wrote about the necessity to be loyal to one’s own desires. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1913 Rebecca West published in the journal “The New Freewoman” …
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Quote Origin: A Happy Family Is But an Earlier Heaven
George Bernard Shaw? John Bowring? John Browning? John Bouring? Question for Quote Investigator: Some envision heaven filled with a joyous, loving, and interconnected group of people united on a higher spiritual plane. If one is a member of a happy family here on Earth then it is possible to obtain a glimpse of this future …
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Quote Origin: The Optimist Invents the Airplane and the Pessimist the Parachute
George Bernard Shaw? Gladys Bronwyn Stern? W. H. H. MacKellar? Gil Stern? Mack McGinnis? Question for Quote Investigator: An entertaining quip contrasts the attitudes of the dreamer and the worrier: Optimists invent airplanes; pessimists invent parachutes. This saying has been attributed to Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw and English author Gladys Bronwyn Stern. Would you …
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I Quite Agree With You, But Who Are We Two Against So Many?
George Bernard Shaw? Oscar Wilde? Clarence Rook? Alexander Woollcott? Hesketh Pearson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A playwright feared that his upcoming work was about to flop at the box office. After the surprisingly successful inaugural performance the bewildered playwright appeared on stage. Amongst the resounding cheers there was a barely audible hiss. The playwright addressed …
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How Do You Know That the Earth Isn’t Some Other Planet’s Hell?
Aldous Huxley? George Bernard Shaw? Voltaire? Andy Capp? Reg Smythe? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A dejected literary figure apparently experienced an alarming eschatological revelation: Maybe this world is another planet’s Hell. This notion has been credited to English writer Aldous Huxley who penned the classic dystopian novel “Brave New World”. Credit has also been given …
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I Often Quote Myself. It Adds Spice To My Conversation
George Bernard Shaw? Brendan Behan? Reba Lombard? Arthur Caesar? George Jean Nathan? Erskine Johnson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A remarkably large number of utterances from the prominent Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw appear in quotation collections. Apparently, he once humorously commented on his quoteworthiness. Here are three versions: I often quote myself. It adds spice …
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The Worst Sin Towards Our Fellow Creatures Is Not To Hate Them, But To Be Indifferent To Them
George Bernard Shaw? Anthony Anderson? Wilhelm Stekel? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The playwright George Bernard Shaw apparently contended that indifference to another person was a greater transgression than hatred. He called this indifference a sin. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: George Bernard Shaw’s play “The Devil’s Disciple” was first …