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About this quote

What does it mean?
Shaw criticizes public officials for feigning friendliness for political or business purposes.
In plain terms
Politicians fake being nice just to use it for their own gain.
What can you take from it?
Public displays of friendship among leaders can be insincere.

Where it applies

  • analyzing political behavior
  • observing public relations
  • cynical politics

Putting it to work

  • spotting fake camaraderie
  • evaluating political motives

Questions to consider

  • How do we spot fake friendliness?
  • Is politics inherently fake?

Another view

Not all public friendliness is calculated.

More from George Bernard Shaw

  1. You see things; and you say Why? But I dream things that never were; and I say Why not?

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  2. There are no secrets except the secrets that keep themselves.

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  3. Revolutionary movements attract those who are not good enough for established institutions as well as those who are too good for them.

    Permalink to quote #178

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