QuoteProject
Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads.
George Bernard Shaw
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Censorship restricts knowledge and literature until only unimportant works are accessible.

This quote by George Bernard Shaw underscores the absurdity of censorship, suggesting that when society limits access to literature, it ultimately leads to a situation where only trivial or ignored books are available. It reflects a critique of censorship's impact on intellectual freedom, arguing that true discourse and thought require a diversity of perspectives, and that its absence results in the loss of meaningful knowledge and enlightenment.

Themes

CensorshipKnowledgeFreedomLiteratureIntellectualThought

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in discussions about the importance of free speech during a literature class.

More from George Bernard Shaw

What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.
George Bernard ShawRead
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!
George Bernard ShawRead
Those who talk most about the blessings of marriage and the constancy of its vows are the very people who declare that if the chain were broken and the prisoners left free to choose, the whole social fabric would fly asunder. You cannot have the argument both ways. If the prisoner is happy, why lock him in? If he is not, why pretend that he is?
George Bernard ShawRead
Treat a friend as a person who may someday become your enemy; an enemy as a person who may someday become your friend.
George Bernard ShawRead
The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
George Bernard ShawRead

Similar quotes

We are fragmented into so many different aspects. We don't know who we really are, or what aspects of ourselves we should identify with or believe in. So many contradictory voices, dictates, and feelings fight for control over our inner lives that we find ourselves scattered everywhere, in all directions, leaving nobody at home.
Sogyal RinpocheRead
You wake up each day from the dream; but to be free, you must also wake up from the waking state.
MoojiRead
For all works and things, which are either commanded or forbidden by God and thus have been instituted by the supreme Majesty, are 'musts.' Nevertheless, no one should be dragged to them or away from them by the hair, for I can drive no man to heaven or beat him into it with a club.
Martin LutherRead
A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war.
George OrwellRead
Africa's not a color - it's a place.
Trevor NoahRead
Only one endowed with restless vitality is susceptible to pessimism. You become a pessimist-a demonic, elemental, bestial pessimist-only when life has been defeated many times in its fight against depression.
Emile M. CioranRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.