What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
The roulette table pays nobody except him that keeps it. Nevertheless a passion for gaming is common, though a passion for keeping roulette tables is unknown.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the nature of gambling, revealing that while many are passionate about playing, few recognize the true value in owning the means of the game.
George Bernard Shaw's quote highlights the irony of gambling: while many people are captivated by the thrill of playing games like roulette, they overlook the fact that success is skewed towards those who control the game itself, such as the owners of the casino. This emphasizes a deeper philosophical point about understanding the systems and structures that govern our pursuits, suggesting that true success comes from a comprehensive understanding of those dynamics rather than a mere engagement in the game.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the economics of gambling.
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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All experience and phenomena are understood to be a dream, this should not be just an intellectual understanding, but a vivid and lucid experience...Genuine integration of this point produces a profound change in the individual's response to the world. Grasping and aversion is greatly diminished, and the emotional tangles that once seemed so compelling are experienced as the tug of dream stories, and no more.
Only the children know what they are looking for. They waste their time over a rag doll and it becomes very important to them; and if anybody takes it away from them, they cry.
The critics slap labels on you and then expect you to talk inside their terms.
While our world is shaking and crumbling, we need to realize that one thing will never change, and that is God. He is the same today as he was ten million years ago, and will be the same ten million years from today.
The voice of the special rebels and prophets, recommending discontent, should, as I have said, sound now and then suddenly, like a trumpet. But the voices of the saints and sages, recommending contentment, should sound unceasingly, like the sea.