QuoteProject
Besides, do any of us understand what we are doing? If we did, would we ever do it?
George Bernard Shaw
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote questions the depth of human understanding in our actions and decisions.

George Bernard Shaw's quote reflects on the complexity of human behavior and the often subconscious motivations behind our actions. It suggests that if people truly understood their choices and the implications of their decisions, they might hesitate or choose differently, highlighting the paradox of knowledge and action in human experience.

Themes

UnderstandingActionKnowledgeHuman BehaviorDecisions

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a discussion about the motivations behind our daily choices.

More from George Bernard Shaw

What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.
George Bernard ShawRead
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!
George Bernard ShawRead
Those who talk most about the blessings of marriage and the constancy of its vows are the very people who declare that if the chain were broken and the prisoners left free to choose, the whole social fabric would fly asunder. You cannot have the argument both ways. If the prisoner is happy, why lock him in? If he is not, why pretend that he is?
George Bernard ShawRead
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 ShawRead
The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
George Bernard ShawRead

Similar quotes

We . . . must try to live without causing unnecessary harm, not just to fellow humans but to all beings. We must try not to be stingy, or to exploit others. There will be enough pain in the world as it is.
Gary SnyderRead
Mob rule and emasculation of the wise' and 'who will watch the guardians'?
PlatoRead
Alas! it is not till time, with reckless hand, has torn out half the leaves from the Book of Human Life to light the fires of passion with from day to day, that man begins to see that the leaves which remain are few in number.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
When you're...stepping over a guy on the sidewalk...does it ever occur to you to think, 'Wow. Maybe our system doesn't work?'
Bill HicksRead
Her heart of compressed ash, which had resisted the most telling blows of daily reality without strain, fell apart with the first waves of nostalgia.
Gabriel Garcia MarquezRead
Under the all-encompassing aid system, too many places in Africa continue to flounder under inept, corrupt and despotic regimes who spend their time courting and catering to the demands of the army of aid organizations.
Dambisa MoyoRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.