What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
The fickleness of the women I love is only equalled by the infernal constancy of the women who love me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the inconsistency of love from one person and the steadiness of love from another, playing on the complexities of romantic relationships.
George Bernard Shaw's quote playfully reflects on the unpredictable nature of love from those he admires, contrasting it with the unwavering affection from those who have feelings for him. It suggests a humorous discontent with the way romantic attraction often works, where the beloved may be elusive, while affection is steadily offered by someone less sought after. This creates a tension in relationships that is both relatable and ironic.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a discussion about the complexities of modern relationships.
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.
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.
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...as long as nothing happens between them, the memory is cursed with what hasn't happened.
For women, the need and desire to nurture each other is not pathological but redemptive, and it is within that knowledge that our real power is rediscovered. It is this real connection, which is so feared by a patriarchal world.
That was one of the most fundamental and sacred duties good friends and families performed for one another! They tended the flame of memory, so no oneβs death meant an immediate vanishment from the world; in some sense the deceased would live on after their passing, at least as long as those who loved them lived. Such memories were an essential weapon against the chaos of life and death, a way to ensure some continuity from generation to generation, an order of endorsement and meaning.