Make the Circumstances You Want
George Bernard Shaw was a freethinker, defender of women’s rights, and advocate of equality of income. In 1925 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Shaw accepted the honour but refused the money. A man of many causes, Shaw supported abolition of private property, radical change in the voting system, campaigned for the simplification of spelling, and the reform of the English alphabet. As a public speaker, Shaw gained the status of one of the most sought-after orators in England.
He most certainly knew his share of failures, but continued on to become one of the leading literary figures of his time. He’s well qualified to speak these words:
The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.
