What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
I don't know if there are men on the moon, but if there are they must be using the earth as their lunatic asylum
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that humanity is irrational and disconnected, implying that if there were extraterrestrial beings, they would view Earth as a chaotic place.
George Bernard Shaw's quote expresses a deep-seated skepticism about human nature and our irrational behaviors. By comparing Earth to a 'lunatic asylum,' he highlights the absurdities and irrationalities of mankind, suggesting that if there were intelligent beings on the moon, they might see our species as wildly unpredictable and troubled. This perspective encourages reflection on the uniqueness of human behavior and our place in the universe.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture about human psychology and behavior, one might use this quote to illustrate the irrational aspects of human nature.
More from George Bernard Shaw
All quotes →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.
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These are people who are capable of devotion, public devotion, to justice. They meant what they said and every day that passes, they mean it more.
The idea of what the public will think prevents the public from ever thinking at all, and acts as a spell on the exercise of private judgment.
We don't need to 'control' free speech, we need to control ourselves.
The argument that someone is a bad man is an inadequate argument for war and certainly an inadequate and unacceptable argument for regime change.
Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire.
Knot the tie and go to work, unknot the tie and go to sleep. I sleep. I dream. I wake. I sing. I get out the hammer and start knocking in the wooden pegs that affix the meaning to the landscape, the inner life to the body, the names to the things. I float too much to wander, like you, in the real world. I envy it but that’s the dealio—you’re a train and I’m a trainstation and when I try to guess your trajectory I end up telling my own story.