Quotable Quotes: George Bernard Shaw
by Miki Saxon
I love George Bernard Shaw; he was brilliant and had a rapier wit with which he skewered deserving people, ideas and situations, while supplying pithy commentary on the events of his time as well as inspirational ideas.
Some of the things he said have passed into such common usage that few people even realize they are quotes. How many times have you seen this on cards, plaques and samplers?
“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’”
Sound familiar? It’s a favorite of mine; in fact, I have it on my office wall.
So I went looking for a few of the more esoteric Shawisms.
The first is an important heads-up for all of us, but especially anyone in a leadership role; you might even find that it accurately describes the problems you’re having.
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
Progress is something that both people and business expend great effort to do; what we often forget is that progress means things will be different.
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
Because we progress we are all constantly changing, but too often people don’t take the time to find out who you are now; Shaw sums the problem and solution up in just a few words.
“The only man who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew every time he sees me, while all the rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them”
Collaboration boosts progress; Shaw understood this and explained why it’s so important.
“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these 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.”
Progress requires innovation, but real progress requires thinking as opposed to rephrasing previous ideas to sound new, but if Shaw was correct it accounts for the lack of progress in so many areas.
“Two percent of the people think; three percent of the people think they think; and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think.”
Those who don’t think often lean on ideology to support their agenda. The problem with ideology is that it doesn’t lend itself to seeing another’s world-view. Shaw understood how ridiculous this was.
“The frontier between hell and heaven is only the difference between two ways of looking at things.”
My last choice is one I would like to apply to all politicians and educators. Perhaps, if we did, it would significantly improve the quality of those who claim to serve. (Hmm, it probably wouldn’t hurt to apply it to everybody else, too, including yours truly.)
“We should all be obliged to appear before a board every five years and justify our existence…on pain of liquidation.”
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
