What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
Every man over forty is a scoundrel.
Interpretation
This quote humorously suggests that men over forty tend to be morally questionable or mischievous.
George Bernard Shaw's quote brings a comedic perspective on aging, reflecting a rather cynical view of men once they reach middle age. It implies that with age comes a certain level of disrepute, possibly highlighting the follies and flaws that men may carry as they grow older. Shaw's wit serves not only to amuse but also to provoke thought about societal expectations of maturity and integrity.
In practice
In a light-hearted speech about growing older at a birthday party, you might use this quote to add humor.
What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!
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?
Treat a friend as a person who may someday become your enemy; an enemy as a person who may someday become your friend.
The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
Tell the cook of this restaurant with my compliments that these are the very worst sandwiches in the whole world, and that, when I ask for a watercress sandwich, I do not mean a loaf with a field in the middle of it.
I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance, were it not for making living, which is rather a nouciance.
I want to be silly, and that's being authentic just as much as being open and honest. It's authentic to make weird clown horn noises when it strikes you.
I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead - not sick, not wounded - dead.
That's what's great about standup comedy: the instant feedback. You get up on stage, you tell a joke, if it doesn't work, come back the next day with a better version of it.
Like other parties of the kind, it was first silent, then talky, then argumentative, then disputatious, then unintelligible, then altogether, then inarticulate, and then drunk. When we had reached the last step of this glorious ladder, it was difficult to get down again without stumbling.
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