George Bernard Shaw

Physically there is nothing to distinguish human society from the farm-yard except that children are more troublesome and costly than chickens and calves and that men and women are not so completely enslaved as farm stock.

Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.

If you strike a child, take care that you strike it in anger, even at the risk of maiming it for life. A blow in cold blood neither can nor should be forgiven.

Never waste jealousy on a real man: it is the imaginary man that supplants us all in the long run.

A lifetime of happiness? No man alive could bear it; it would be hell on earth.

Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.

He was at a starting point which makes many a man’s career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose, with all the possible thwartings and furtherings of circumstance, all the niceties of inward balance, by which a man swings and makes his point or else is carried headlong.

Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.

Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.

What fugitive from his country can also escape from himself.

There be three things which make a nation great and prosperous: a fertile soil, busy workshops, easy conveyance for men and goods from place to place.

One gains universal applause who mingles the useful with the agreeable, at once delighting and instructing the reader.

The wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs, which are brief and pithy. Collect and learn them; they are notable measures of directions for human life; you have much in little; they save time in speaking; and upon occasion may be the fullest and safest answer.

Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.

Iteration, like friction, is likely to generate heat instead of progress.

Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.

We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.

Tear thyself from delay.

Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.

Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.