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QUOTATIONS FROM SHAW OR SHAW’S WORKS

(OR INVENTIONS IN THE SPIRIT OF SHAW AND SHAW’S WORKS)

FOR FURTHER CONTEMPLATION

(We are still accepting suggestions. Send to dietrich@cas.usf.edu)

1. The quotation on the homepage, from On the Rocks, is by the Chief Commissioner of Police who is appropriately named “Sir Broadfoot Basham. [Suggested by Charles Del Dotto.]

2. The quotation on the “Abstracts” page is from “The Revolutionist's Handbook,” p. 210 in the Standard Edition. [Suggested by E. Dean Bevan].

3. The quotation on the “Maps & Directions” page is of course NOT a quotation from Shaw. Years ago, in the lobby of “Shaw’s Theatre” in north London (near Euston Station) there was a cardboard cut-out of Shaw’s standing figure, one hand of which was pointing in a certain direction, and above his head, in a white bubble, were the words, “This way to the loo.” As the need for directions begins and often ends there, the cartoon of Shaw’s leaning on Shakespeare to provide that seemed appropriate enough.

4. The quotation on the “Reservations” page is largely invented, of course, but is “in the spirit” of Shaw’s writings and remarks.

5. The quote on the “General Schedule” page is from The Apple Cart. [Suggested by Michael McAlister of ShawChicago.]

6. The quote on the “Transportation” page is from Mendoza in Man and Superman, Act III (Bodley, Vol. II, p. 624). [Suggested by Charles Berst.]

HERE ARE A FEW ADDITIONAL QUOTATIONS FROM SHAW

THAT ARE THOUGHT PROVOKING

AND PERHAPS PROBLEMATIC ENOUGH TO INSPIRE SOME COMMENT:

A. “What we are confronted with now is a growing perception that if we desire a certain type of civilization and culture we must exterminate the sort of people who do not fit into it. . . . You can exterminate any human class not only by summary violence but by bringing up its children to be different.” From the “Preface to On the Rocks,” the first part is on p. 578, the second part is on p. 598 (Bodley Head). [This preface, probably meant to be a Swiftian “Modest Proposal,” has been much misunderstood, but perhaps deservedly so, for Shaw did not make it clear enough that he was recommending education as a better means of “extermination” than the alternatives he reviews with such ironical relish.]

B. “All progress means war with Society.” (From Getting Married, quoted in The Sayings of Bernard Shaw, ed. Joseph Spence, p. 34.) [Suggested by Michael Pharand]

C. "Democracy reads well; but it doesn't act well, like some people's plays." (Lord Summerhays in Misalliance)[Suggested by Tony Gibbs]

D. There is also the wonderful description of democracy in the Preface to The Apple Cart, where it is likened to a hot air balloon containing a tiny number of incompetent politicians that descends to earth every five years or so at election time and, after a scramble among a few contestants to get aboard, "goes up again with much the same lot in it and leaves you where you were before." [Suggested by Tony Gibbs]