11 quotes
Shaw does not merely decorate a proposition, but makes his way from point to point through new and difficult territory.
Bernard Shaw in Twilight (1943)
Seeing clearly within himself and always able to dodge around the ends of any position, including his own, Shaw assumed from the start the dual role of prophet and gadfly.
Bernard Shaw in Twilight (1943)
It is difficult enough to reconcile these two needs, but the problem holds another hazard: the need of action under the pressure of time.
Bernard Shaw in Twilight (1943)
Culture, humaneness, spiritual grace, are not forced upon us by logic: they either are self-evident or pointless.
Bernard Shaw in Twilight (1943)
No one has ever used historical examples, near or remote, with the detail, precision, and directness to be found in every page of Shaw.
Bernard Shaw in Twilight (1943)
Shaw's emotional development was one with his intellectual strength.
Bernard Shaw in Twilight (1943)
Strangers who have seen Shaw face to face are wont to report their surprise at his gentleness and consideration, his willingness to listen and his complete lack of pose.
Bernard Shaw in Twilight (1943)
That his action has not been in vain, we can measure by how little Shaw's iconoclasm stirs our blood; we no longer remember what he destroyed that was blocking our view.
Bernard Shaw in Twilight (1943)
Like Nietzsche, he rails at romanticism, but it is evident that what they both mean by the word is the clichés of second-hand romance. Historic romanticism is in fact the ground-work of their philosophy.
Bernard Shaw in Twilight (1943)
Like Rousseau, whom he resembles even more than he resembles Voltaire, Shaw never gave a social form to his assertiveness, never desired to arrive and to assimilate himself, or wield authority as of right.
Bernard Shaw in Twilight (1943)
On the one hand, society needs a common faith and vigorous institutions with the power to coerce; and on the other, the individual as a human soul or as the bearer of a new and possibly saving heresy, must be free. It is difficult enough to reconcile these two needs, but the problem holds another hazard: the need of action under the pressure of time.
Bernard Shaw in Twilight (1943)