George Bernard Shaw.

George Bernard Shaw…

George Bernard Shaw was a man of many talents – poet, playwright, novelist and many, many more. He was of course an Irishman having been born in Dublin on 26th July 1856. He went to England at the age of twenty and lived there for the remainder of his life. He was highly intelligent and many of his famous quotations show a rare look into the future. He had his flaws in my opinion, the main one being that he was one of those who got themselves involved in the principal of ‘Eugenics’ – (see my tag list). He was also a staunch communist/socialist at heart, which has always been easy for those with money. He fought for Womens’ Suffrage and was heavily involved in the Votes for Women campaign, which was successful within his lifetime.

He was educated to quite a high standard in Dublin, but when he was sixteen, his mother left home to follow her ‘voice’ teacher to London. He remained with his father and commenced work as a clerk in an estate office. He was reported to be a ‘good’ worker but was quite discontent with his lot. In 1876 he left Ireland and joined his mother and sisters. They provided him with £1 per week, which he used to travel to various public libraries and the British Museum. He began to study with great earnest and dedication. He began to ghost-write a music column for his mother’s ‘friend’.

He had begun to write several novels but all were rejected by publishers. However, he became financially independent when he became a critic of the arts. He became influential in ‘The Fabian Society’, an organisation dedicated to Socialism through peaceful means. He married a female from the society in 1898, bought a house in a small village outside London where they lived until his death on 2nd November 1950.

He wrote constantly, not only stage plays, novels and such, but is known to have written over 250,000 letters in his lifetime. Perhaps his most lasting and famous work known to present day people as ‘My Fair Lady’, but entitled ‘Pygmalion’ was completed in 1912. The vast majority of his works dealt with the social aspect of Victorian life but were always tinged with a sense of humour whilst using his wit like a cutting sword about the morals, politics and economic issues of the then era.

His ultra-sharp wit shamed many of the rich Victorians and he did not spare the rod where politicians were concerned.
He said: "It is said that every people has the Government it deserves. It is more
to the point that every Government has the electorate it deserves; for
the orators of the front bench can edify or debauch an ignorant
electorate at will. Thus our democracy moves in a vicious
circle of reciprocal worthiness and unworthiness".

During the early years of the Second World War, Shaw wrote numerous critical articles about Winston Churchill. Adolph Hitler read them with great amusement and Goebbel’s made use of such writings in German propaganda.

It was around 1880 that he began to join in and elaborate on Eugenics. He preferred to call it ‘selective breeding’ as he believed that something called ‘Life Force’ led women subconsciously to select the males most likely to give them superior children.

He also joined in the views of other prominent people of his group on land nationalisation. He held personal views that private ownership of land and its exploitation for personal profit was a form of theft. He advocated the distribution of land and natural resources and their control by governments intent on promoting such ideals. The works of Karl Marx were influencing him. He applied for membership of the Social Democratic Federation but never in fact joined.

As he entered his old age, he became more famous for his wit and his advocating a ‘shavian alphabet’, as he was concerned with the vagaries of English spelling. He did in fact leave a large sum of money in his will (over £300,000) to set up such an alphabet. His wit became sharper with age and a sample of it is: "My way of joking is to tell the truth. It’s the funniest joke in the world".

Some more examples of his wit follow:

"The liar’s punishment is, not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe any one else".

"We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it".

"My speciality is being right when other people are wrong".

"There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it".

"Political necessities sometimes turn out to be political mistakes".

"People are always blaming circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them".

"All very fine, Mary; but my old-fashioned common sense is better than your clever modern nonsense".

"There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart’s desire. The other is to get it".

"It is more dangerous to be a great prophet or poet than to promote twenty companies for swindling simple folk out of their savings".

"Revolutionary movements attract those who are not good enough for established institutions as well as those who are too good for them".

"Irish history is something no Englishman should forget and no Irishman should remember".

"Islam is the best religion, with the worst followers".

"As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death".

And Finally:

"Death is for many of us the gate of hell; but we are inside on the way out, not outside on the way in".

A great man was old George, (if you pardon him for the Eugenics affair); after all he is the only one who has ever won The Nobel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938). Oh yes, and by the way, he was Irish.

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Shaw introduces Einstein at a Dinner in London.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ocSgz_AeSNE
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