What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
No use slaving for me and then saying you want to be cared for: who cares for a slave? If you come back, come back for the sake of good fellowship; for you’ll get nothing else.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that true connections are built on mutual respect and goodwill, not obligation.
George Bernard Shaw's quote suggests that genuine relationships should be founded on cooperation and camaraderie rather than servitude or obligation. It critiques the mindset of expecting care and respect from those who are treated as subordinates or slaves, highlighting that such dynamics are devoid of true fellowship. The call to return 'for the sake of good fellowship' underlines the importance of valuing relationships based on mutual enjoyment and companionship rather than coercion or duty.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a discussion about the importance of mutual respect in friendships.
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.
Similar quotes
Men They hail you as their morning star Because you are the way you are. If you return the sentiment, They'll try to make you different; And once they have you, safe and sound, They want to change you all around. Your moods and ways they put a curse on; They'd make of you another person. They cannot let you go your gait; They influence and educate. They'd alter all that they admired. They make me sick, they make me tired.
I hate who steals my solitude, without really offer me in exchange company.
Husbands and wives should understand that their first calling-from which they will never be released-is to one another and THEN to their children.
Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in bonds of fraternal feeling.
For me, any story I tackle begins with the human relationships and not the plot.
Because the relationship between self and world is reciprocal, it is not a matter of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the Earth, the Earth heals us. No need to wait. As we care enough to take risks, we loosen the grip of ego and begin to come home to our true nature.