Quotations by the poet: George Bernard Shaw

''Of the three official objects of our prison system: vengeance, deterrence, and reformation of the criminal, only one is achieved; and that is the one which is nakedly abominable.''

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. First published in seven parts in the New York American (April 30-June 11, 1922). Crude Criminology, "Imprisonment," Doctors' Delusions, Crude Criminology, and Sham Education, Constable (1950).

''The lesson intended by an author is hardly ever the lesson the world chooses to learn from his book.''

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. (1903). Man and Superman, epistle dedicatory, The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with their Prefaces, vol. 2, ed. Dan H. Laurence (1971).

''As to spelling the very frequent word though with six letters instead of two, it is impossible to discuss it, as it is outside the range of common sanity. In comparison such a monstrosity as phlegm for flem is merely disgusting.''

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. First published in The Author (Summer 1944). "The Author as Manual Laborer," On Language , ed. Abraham Tauber, Philosophical Library (1963).

''No severity of punishment deters when detection is uncertain, as it always must be.''

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. First published as "Reasonable Murder," Sunday Express (May 13, 1928). Crude Criminology, "Imprisonment," Doctors' Delusions, Crude Criminology, and Sham Education, Constable (1950).

''Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.''

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. (1903). Man and Superman, "The Revolutionist's Handbook," The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with their Prefaces, vol. 2, ed. Dan H. Laurence (1971).

''He poses as Jefferson Davis to please the Disruptionists. He ... poses as Lincoln to please the Unionists.... Why does he not visit America, and learn the cult of the man who can look his fellow man (or newspaper) in the eye, and tell him to go to hell?''

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. first published in Irish Statesman (Jan. 10, 1920). "The Betrayal of Ulster," The Matter with Ireland , eds. David H. Greene and Dan H. Laurence, Rupert Hart-Davis (1962).

''You cannot have power for good without having power for evil too. Even mother's milk nourishes murderers as well as heroes.''

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. (First produced 1905). Cusins, in Major Barbara, act 3, The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with their Prefaces, vol. 3, ed. Dan H. Laurence (1971).

''This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. And also the only real tragedy in life is being used by personally minded men for purposes which you recognize to be base.''

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. (1903). Man and Superman, epistle dedicatory, The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with their Prefaces, vol. 2, ed. Dan H. Laurence (1971).

''What God hath joined together no man ever shall put asunder: God will take care of that.''

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. (First produced 1908). The Bishop, in Getting Married, The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with their Prefaces, vol. 3, ed. Dan H. Laurence (1971).

''I am a sort of collector of religions; and the curious thing is that I find I can believe them all.''

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. (First produced 1905). Cusins, in Major Barbara, act 2, The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with their Prefaces, vol. 3, ed. Dan H. Laurence (1971).