If you're going to tell people the truth, you better make them laugh; otherwise they'll kill you. (cited in the lead credits to the movie C.S.A. Confederate States of America; also sometimes attributed to Oscar Wilde).
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Shaw suggests that delivering harsh truths requires humor to prevent the audience from reacting with anger or violence.
- In plain terms
- Make people laugh when telling the truth so they do not get angry.
- What can you take from it?
- Use humor to soften the delivery of difficult truths.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you deliver bad news?
- Can humor undermine serious messages?
Another view
Sometimes serious truths need direct delivery without humor to be respected.
More from George Bernard Shaw
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
Permalink to quote #245 Shaw's plays are the price we pay for Shaw's prefaces.
Permalink to quote #247 Consistency is the enemy of enterprise, just as symmetry is the enemy of art.
Permalink to quote #244
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