other edifice
altruistic as lighthouse
built only to serve
Ran across this great quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw in the New York Times:
I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a lighthouse. They were built only to serve.
Sadly, while I searched for an attribution, I had no luck.
So I asked ChatGTP.
Here is the response I got.
The quote often attributed to George Bernard Shaw —”I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a lighthouse. They were built only to serve” — is widely circulated online, but there is no verifiable source confirming that Shaw actually said or wrote these exact words.
Key facts:
The quote does not appear in any of Shaw’s known plays, essays, or recorded speeches.
It is absent from authoritative quote databases and scholarly collections of Shaw’s work.
Some sources attribute a similar sentiment to H.G. Wells, Anne Lamott, or Virginia Woolf, but again, no definitive origin has been verified.
Most Likely Status:
This quote is misattributed or paraphrased from another source, possibly meant to reflect Shaw’s ideals but not directly from him.
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