---
title: "Seeing clearly within himself and always able to dodge around the end… — George Bernard Shaw Quote #249 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "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 … — a quote by George Bernard Shaw."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # 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.

[George Bernard Shaw](https://quotesby.net/George-Bernard-Shaw)\#249

[Wisdom](https://quotesby.net/George-Bernard-Shaw/wisdom/)[Character](https://quotesby.net/George-Bernard-Shaw/character/)[Leadership](https://quotesby.net/George-Bernard-Shaw/leadership/)[Flexibility](https://quotesby.net/George-Bernard-Shaw/flexibility/)[Strategy](https://quotesby.net/George-Bernard-Shaw/strategy/)[Introspection](https://quotesby.net/topics/introspection/)

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## About this quote

What does it mean?Shaw describes a person who analyzes themselves deeply yet avoids commitment to any fixed stance.In plain termsSomeone who knows themselves well but refuses to stick to one opinion.What can you take from it?Maintain flexibility even when confident in your views.

### Where it applies

- public speaking
- leadership
- debate

### Putting it to work

- negotiation
- writing
- counseling

### Questions to consider

- Is it better to be consistent or adaptable?
- How do you balance conviction with openness?

### Another view

It can lead to a lack of principled stands.

## More from George Bernard Shaw

1. > Shaw does not merely decorate a proposition, but makes his way from point to point through new and difficult territory.

[Permalink to quote \#250](https://quotesby.net/George-Bernard-Shaw/250/ "Permalink to quote 250")
2. > Shaw knows at any moment, on any subject, what he thinks, what you will think, what others have thought, what all this thinking entails; and he takes the most …

[Permalink to quote \#248](https://quotesby.net/George-Bernard-Shaw/248/ "Permalink to quote 248")
3. > He never invested his whole moral capital in a man, a book, or a cause, but treasured up wisdom wherever it could be picked up, always with scrupulous acknowle…

[Permalink to quote \#251](https://quotesby.net/George-Bernard-Shaw/251/ "Permalink to quote 251")

## Related quotes

1. > I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times.

[Everett Dirksen](https://quotesby.net/Everett-Dirksen)[Everett Dirksen quote \#2](https://quotesby.net/Everett-Dirksen/2/ "Permalink to quote 2")
2. > When it comes to politics, one has to do as one \[does\] at sea with a sailing ship... reach one's course having regard to prevailing winds.

[William Lyon Mackenzie King](https://quotesby.net/William-Lyon-Mackenzie-King)[William Lyon Mackenzie King quote \#4](https://quotesby.net/William-Lyon-Mackenzie-King/4/ "Permalink to quote 4")
3. > 'Love without courage and wisdom is sentimentality, as with the ordinary church member. Courage without love and wisdom is foolhardiness, as with the ordinary …

[Ammon Hennessey](https://quotesby.net/Ammon-Hennessey)[Ammon Hennessey quote \#6](https://quotesby.net/Ammon-Hennessey/6/ "Permalink to quote 6")

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