# Quote — George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara

> It is quite useless to declare that all men are born free if you deny that they are born good. Guarantee a man's goodness and his liberty will take care of itself. To guarantee his freedom on condition that you approve of his moral character is formally to abolish all freedom whatsoever, as every man's liberty is at the mercy of a moral indictment which any fool can trump up against everyone who violates custom, whether as a prophet or as a rascal.

- Author: [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md)
- Book: [Major Barbara](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw#Major_Barbara_(1905)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Topics: [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md), [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md)
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara/it-is-quite

## More from this book

> You have learnt something. That always feels at first as if you had lost something.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara/you-have-learnt.md)

Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md)

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

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara/you-cannot-have.md)

Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md)

> It is not the sale of my soul that troubles me: I have sold it too often to care about that. I have sold it for a professorship. I have sold it for an income. ... What is all human conduct but the daily and hourly sale of our souls for trifles?

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara/it-is-not.md)

Topics: [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md)