What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
Hell is paved with good intentions, not with bad ones. All men mean well.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Good intentions often lead to negative outcomes, demonstrating that desire to do good is not enough.
This quote by George Bernard Shaw highlights the irony that many people have noble intentions yet may still result in harmful consequences. It emphasizes that simply wanting to do good is inadequate; actions must be evaluated based on their outcomes rather than intentions alone, reminding us to reflect on the effects of our choices and decisions.
Themes
IntentionsActionsConsequencesPhilosophyGoodness
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about ethical business practices, one might say this quote to underline the importance of assessing the actual impact of decisions.
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.
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
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Thank God! we are in the full enjoyment of all these privileges. But can we be taught to prize them too much? or how can we prize them equal to their value, if we do not know their intrinsic worth, and that they are not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature?
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Did you, too, O friend, suppose democracy was only for elections, for politics, and for a party name? I say democracy is only of use there that it may pass on and come to its flower and fruit in manners, in the highest forms of interaction between people, and their beliefs - in religion, literature, colleges and schools- democracy in all public and private life.
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The United States is a land of free speech. Nowhere is speech freer - not even here where we sedulously cultivate it even in its most repulsive form.
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People crushed by law have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws.
Thomas Babington MacaulayRead