What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
It is said that every people has the Government it deserves. It is more to the point that every Government has the electorate it deserves; for the orator of the front bench can edify or debauch an ignorant electorate at will.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quality of a government reflects the character of its citizens, and an uninformed electorate is easily manipulated by leaders.
George Bernard Shaw suggests that the nature of a government is a direct reflection of the people who elect it. If the electorate is ignorant or uninformed, it allows those in power, like orators and politicians, to either enlighten or corrupt public opinion and behavior. This highlights the responsibility citizens have in educating themselves to maintain a healthy democracy.
Themes
GovernmentElectorateResponsibilityEducationDemocracy
In practice
Example use cases
During a political debate, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of an informed electorate.
More from George Bernard Shaw
All quotes →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
Very big business is in bed with very big government in Washington, and has more to do with what the average person sees, hears and reads than most people know.
Dan RatherRead
It is a matter of record that in the German Election of 1933, the Communist Party was ordered by its leaders to vote for the Nazis - with the explanation that they could later fight the Nazis for power, but first they had to help destroy their common enemy : capitalism and its parliamentary form of government.
Ayn RandRead
To get your name well enough known that you can run for a public office, some people do it by being great lawyers or philanthropists or business people or work their way up the political ladder. I happened to become known from a different route.
John GlennRead
Of what does politics consist except the making of imperfect decisions, many of them unjust and quite a few of them deadly?
Lewis H. LaphamRead
When facism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the American flag.
Sinclair LewisRead
It is the height of stupidity to claim that men who for a thousand years have had the power to berate us, to fleece us and to oppress us with impunity, will now agree, with good grace, to be our equals.
Jean-Paul MaratRead