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About this quote

What does it mean?
Shaw claims English people equate feeling uncomfortable with being morally correct.
In plain terms
English people think feeling bad means they are doing good.
What can you take from it?
Discomfort does not always equal morality.

Where it applies

  • cultural critique
  • ethical reasoning
  • national stereotypes

Putting it to work

  • question moral indicators
  • challenge cultural norms
  • reassess guilt

Questions to consider

  • Does discomfort prove virtue?
  • How do cultures define morality?

Another view

Discomfort can sometimes signal genuine ethical conflict.

More from George Bernard Shaw

  1. Hell is full of musical amateurs. Music is the brandy of the damned.

    Permalink to quote #106
  2. What is virtue but the Trade Unionism of the married?

    Permalink to quote #108
  3. [between his teeth] Goon. Talk politics, you idiots: nothing sounds more respectable. Keep it up, I tell you.

    Permalink to quote #105

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