George Bernard Shaw Berühmte Zitate
Zitate über Menschen von George Bernard Shaw
The Devil's Disciple, Act II (1901)
Original engl.: "The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity."
„Je mehr ein Mensch sich schämt, desto anständiger ist er.“
Man and Superman (dt.: Mensch und Übermensch), 1903, 1. Akt
Original engl.: "The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is."
George Bernard Shaw Zitate und Sprüche
„Ich zitiere mich oft selber. Ich finde, es bringt Attraktivität in das Gespräch.“
The Wordsworth Dictionary of Quotations, Robertson, Connie, Wordsworth, Herfordshire 1996
Original engl.: "I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversations."
Der Sozialismus und die Natur des Menschen, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a. Main 1973. S. 140 ISBN 3-518-36621-1 Auswahl und Übersetzung von Ursula Michels-Wenz, zitiert in: Die Neue Gesellschaft, Heft 27, hrsg. für die Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bonn 1980. S. 757
Original engl.: "[...] Equality is the best touchstone for distinguishing your real Socialist from your virtuously indignant pitier of the poor." - The Road to Equality: Ten unpublished Lectures and Essays, 1884-1918, edited by Louis Crompton, Beacon Press, 1971. S. 194
„Wenn ich scherzen will, sage ich die Wahrheit. Das ist immer noch der größte Spaß auf Erden.“
John Bull's Other Island, Akt 2, 1907
Original engl.: "My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the World."


„England und Amerika sind zwei Länder, die durch die gemeinsame Sprache getrennt sind.“
Reader’s Digest, November 1942; für Shaw nicht belegbar, jedoch hatte Oscar Wilde schon vorher in "Das Gespenst von Canterville" einen ähnlichen Gedanken. Popular misquotes - 'the things they never said'. http://www.phrases.org.uk/quotes/misquotes/
Original engl.: "England and America are two countries divided by a common language." auch mit "United States" und "Great Britain"
Zugeschrieben

George Bernard Shaw: Zitate auf Englisch
“Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!”
Act II; sometimes paraphrased as: The customs of your tribe are not laws of nature.
1890s, Caesar and Cleopatra (1898)
Variante: Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
Kontext: THEODOTUS: Caesar: you are a stranger here, and not conversant with our laws. The kings and queens of Egypt may not marry except with their own royal blood. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are born king and consort just as they are born brother and sister.
BRITANNUS (shocked): Caesar: this is not proper.
THEODOTUS (outraged): How!
CAESAR (recovering his self-possession): Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
“There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.”
Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant, Vol. II, preface (1898)
1890s
“The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.”
Widely attributed to Shaw begin31 (187ning in the 1940s, esp. after appearing in the November 1942 Reader’s Digest, the quotation is actually a variant of "Indeed, in many respects, she [Mrs. Otis] was quite English, and was an excellent example of the fact that we have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language" from Oscar Wilde's 1887 short story "The Canterville Ghost".
Misattributed
Variante: The English and the Americans are two peoples divided by a common language.
“I learned long ago never to wrestle with a pig. … You get dirty and besides the pig likes it.”
Initially attributed to Cyrus S. Ching in Time, Vol. 56 (1950), p. 21.
Misattributed
Variante: Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.
“Shall I turn up the light for you?
No, give me deeper darkness. Money is not made in the light.”
Quelle: Heartbreak House
“A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry.”
#32
1900s, Maxims for Revolutionists (1903)
“There are no secrets better kept than the secrets everybody guesses.”
Crofts, Act III
Variante: There are no secrets except the secrets that keep themselves.
Quelle: 1890s, Mrs. Warren's Profession (1893)
“Like all young men, you greatly exaggerate the difference between one young woman and another.”
Quelle: Major Barbara
“Life is not meant to be easy, my child but take courage: it can be delightful.”
Pt. V; see also the later phrasing of Malcolm Fraser, "life wasn't meant to be easy"
1920s, Back to Methuselah (1921)
“In an ugly and unhappy world the richest man can purchase nothing but ugliness and unhappiness.”
#110
1900s, Maxims for Revolutionists (1903)