Quote: George Bernard Shaw
This has got to be one of the most inspiring things ever written:
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 the being used by personally minded men for purposes which you recognize to be base.
All the rest is at worst mere misfortune or mortality: this alone is misery, slavery, hell on earth; and the revolt against it is the only force that offers a man’s work to the poor artist, whom our personally minded rich people would so willingly employ as pandar, buffoon, beauty monger, sentimentalizer and the like.”
Oh man – that has got to be one of the most inspiring, uplifting things ever written.
The passage about “being used by personally minded men for purposes which you recognize to be base”… if that’s not unhappiness at work I don’t know what is, and yet that’s exactly how many people feel about work.
I’m with Shaw on this one – we must revolt against it and be artists of our own lives.
Rebecca Said,
January 31, 2008 @ 7:21 pm
What an excellent quote! I know a church which is taking on a Lenten project: no complaining throughout Lent, for all the members. We might all do that, religious or not, and end up happier.
Jo Said,
February 1, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
I read my way through George Bernard Shaw as a students and think I might do it again.
I can’t think of anything worse than “working for a living”. I am all for beginning with what people want to do and then finding a way to make sure it is economically viable.
Indeed in my experience of supervising people, if they are unable or unwilling (or simply uninspired) to do what I think, once I have got over my frustration, exploring their ideas is productive. There is a good paper in the current issue of the Rotman newsletter in integrative thinking – reconciling seemingly opposing ideas. They conclude this is currently tacit knowledge of individuals – and therefore chance talent for the organization. The trick is to build it in to the system. It should be a bad day when everyone agrees with us! Nothing new happened. No surprising value was created.
The Personally Minded « Thought Shop Said,
March 6, 2010 @ 11:41 pm
[...] I’m with Shaw on this one – we must revolt against it and be artists of our own lives. [...]