Quote of the Day: George Bernard Shaw on Daily Inspiration

Notice Shaw’s choice of the word “never.” Not “rarely,” not “sometimes,” but “never”, a firm warning that progress isn’t a straight line, it’s a branching tree. “Science never solves a problem without creating ten more.”

Read that as a complaint and you’ll feel stuck. Read it as a map and you’ll feel equipped. Every real solution changes the environment, and the moment the environment changes, new questions appear. That’s not failure; it’s feedback. The practical takeaway is to stop judging your work (and your life) by whether it eliminates problems, and start judging it by whether it upgrades the problems you get to face.

This mindset shifts how you plan. When you ship a new system at work, assume it will create new edge cases; budget time for iteration, not just launch. When you adopt a new habit, expect it to reveal deeper layers, better sleep might expose unresolved stress; a promotion might surface new anxieties about competence. Instead of interpreting those “ten more” as proof you chose wrong, treat them as the cost of moving forward with courage.

Antibiotics saved millions, then demanded wiser use as resistance grew. Digital tools connected us, then forced new thinking about privacy and trust. Shaw’s point isn’t to distrust science, it’s to respect second-order effects and keep your hands on the wheel. Build in review, ethics, and personal boundaries so your solutions remain aligned with leadership.

George Bernard Shaw earned his authority through more than wit: as a Nobel Prize–winning playwright and a lifelong public thinker, he made a career of exposing how society improves, messily, incrementally, and with consequences.

Today, pick one “solution” you’re pursuing and write down three likely problems it could create, then add one simple guardrail you’ll implement immediately (a checklist, a limit, a review date, a conversation). May your next step be brave enough to invite better questions.