What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
Only in books has mankind known perfect truth, love and beauty.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Books encapsulate the ideals of truth, love, and beauty as understood by humanity.
George Bernard Shaw suggests that literature is the only realm where humans have consistently encountered and expressed the perfect forms of truth, love, and beauty. In reality, these concepts often elude everyday life; however, within the pages of books, they are immortalized and explored in their purest forms, offering readers a glimpse into the ideals that resonate deeply with the human experience.
Themes
BooksTruthLoveBeautyLiterature
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of reading, one might quote Shaw to emphasize literature's role in appreciating lifeβs ideals.
More from George Bernard Shaw
All quotes βMarriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.
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Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!
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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?
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Treat a friend as a person who may someday become your enemy; an enemy as a person who may someday become your friend.
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The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
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Similar quotes
Sartre said that wars were acts and that, with literature, you could produce changes in history. Now, I don't think literature doesn't produce changes, but I think the social and political effect of literature is much less controllable than I thought.
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The poet gives us his essence, but prose takes the mould of the body and mind entire.
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As soon as histories are properly told there is no more need of romances.
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Literature got me into this mess and literature is going to have to get me out of it.
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But everything of value about me is in my books.
V. S. NaipaulRead