What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often use their circumstances as excuses for their behavior, but one can choose to rise above them.
This quote by George Bernard Shaw emphasizes the idea that one's character and decisions are not dictated by external circumstances, but rather by personal choices. It challenges the notion of victimhood and encourages individuals to take responsibility for their lives instead of attributing their situation to factors they cannot control.
Themes
CircumstancesResponsibilityChoicesCharacterVictimhood
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech to inspire change in individuals' lives.
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
Similar quotes
We cannot get from anyone else the things we need to fill the endless terrible need, not to be dissolved, not to sink back into sand, heat, broom, air, thinnest air. And so we revolve around each other and our dreams collide. Look out the window in any weather. We are part of all that glamour, drama, change, and should not be ashamed.
Ellen GilchristRead
Upper classes are a nation's past; the middle class is its future.
Ayn RandRead
Gentle reader, the Fountain of Youth is radioactive, and those who imbibe its poisonous heavy waters will suffer the hideous fate of decaying metal. Yet almost without exception, the wretched idiot inhabitants of our benighted planet would gulp down this radioactive excrement if it were offered.
William S. BurroughsRead
Since Satan can't destroy the gospel, he has too often neutralized its usefulness by addition, subtraction or substitution.
J. C. RyleRead
It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If 'is' means 'is and never has been' that's one thing - if it means 'there is none', that was a completely true statement.
William J. ClintonRead
The mind, placed before any kind of difficulty, can find an ideal outlet in the absurd. Accommodation to the absurd readmits adults to the mysterious realm inhabited by children.
Andre BretonRead