(July 26, 1856–November 2, 1950), was an acclaimed British dramatist, novelist and critic, who became popular for his satirical attacks on the conventions of his day. He wrote more than 40 plays, and in 1925 won the Nobel prize for literature. George Bernard Shaw helped found the Fabian Society, became an active socialist, and spent many years of his life promoting socialism. In an article he wrote later in life, entitled “Too True to be Good,” George Bernard Shaw wrote:
The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. Its counsels, which should have established the millennium, have led directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once. In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshipers in the temples of a thousand creeds, and now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith.”2914
George Bernard Shaw expressed:
We are told that when Jehovah created the world He saw it was good. What would He say now?2915
Where there is no religion, hypocrisy becomes good taste.2916
Rich men without convictions are more dangerous in modern society than poor women without chastity.2917
The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.2918
The first prison I ever saw had inscribed on it Cease to do evil: learn to do well; but as the inscription was on the outside, the prisoners could not read it. It should have been addressed to the self-righteous free spectator in the street, and should have run All have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God.2919
Beware of the man whose God is in the skies.2920
If Jesus had been indicted in a modern court, He would have been examined by two doctors; found to be obsessed by a delusion; declared to be incapable of pleading; and sent to an asylum. … 2921
What God has joined together no man shall ever put asunder: God will take care of that.
In his historical drama, Saint Joan (1924), which is generally regarded as his greatest work, George Bernard Shaw had the character of the Maid declare:
Yes: I am alone on earth: I have always been alone. … Do not think you can frighten me by telling me that I am alone. France is alone; and God is alone; and what is my loneliness before the loneliness of my country and my God? I see now that the loneliness of God is His strength: what would He be if He listened to your jealous little counsels? Well, my loneliness shall be my strength too: it is better to be alone with God: His friendships will not fail me, nor His counsel, nor His love. In His strength I will dare, and dare, and dare, until I die.2922