"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
— George Bernard Shaw
The Reasonable Man Adapts Himself To
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
About this quote
This aphorism comes from the "Reason" section of Maxims for Revolutionists, an appendix to Shaw's 1903 play Man and Superman. The full passage continues: "The man who listens to Reason is lost: Reason enslaves all whose minds are not strong enough to master her." Shaw uses the paradox to champion nonconformity: the person society calls reasonable — one who adjusts to the world as it is — enables stagnation, while the "unreasonable" person who insists on reshaping the world is the actual engine of progress. The maxim was later quoted by Malcolm Gladwell in David and Goliath (2013) as an illustration of unconventional thinking.
Source
Man and Superman, Maxims for Revolutionists