As to your Life Force, which you think irresistible, it is the most resistible thing in the world for a person of any character. But if you are naturally vulgar and credulous, as all reformers are, it will thrust you first into religion, where you will sprinkle water on babies to save their souls from me; then it will drive you from religion into science, where you will snatch the babies from the water sprinkling and inoculate them with disease to save them from catching it accidentally; then you will take to politics, where you will become the catspaw of corrupt functionaries and the henchman of ambitious humbugs; and the end will be despair and decrepitude, broken nerve and shattered hopes, vain regrets for that worst and silliest of wastes and sacrifices, the waste and sacrifice of the power of enjoyment: in a word, the punishment of the fool who pursues the better before he has secured the good.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Shaw argues that life force is easily manipulated by those lacking character, leading them through religion, science, and politics into despair.
- In plain terms
- People without strong character are easily led by their energy into harmful paths like blind faith or corrupt politics.
- What can you take from it?
- Strong character is needed to direct energy wisely.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you direct your energy?
- What protects your character?
Another view
The quote assumes a linear progression that may not fit all personal journeys.
More from George Bernard Shaw
Well, well, go your way, Senor Don Juan. I prefer to be my own master and not the tool of any blundering universal force. I know that beauty is good to look at…
Permalink to quote #100 Beware of the pursuit of the Superhuman: it leads to an indiscriminate contempt for the Human.
Permalink to quote #102 The philosopher is Nature's pilot. And there you have our difference: to be in hell is to drift: to be in heaven is to steer.
Permalink to quote #99
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