QuotesCosmos
George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra (1898), Act II; the last statement has sometimes been paraphrased as: The customs of your tribe are not laws of nature.
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THEODOTUS: Caesar: you are a stranger here, and not conversant with our laws. The kings and queens of Egypt may not marry except with their own royal blood. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are born king and consort just as they are born brother and sister. BRITANNUS (shocked): Caesar: this is not proper. THEODOTUS (outraged): How! CAESAR (recovering his self-possession): Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.

— George Bernard Shaw on Incest

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "THEODOTUS: Caesar: you are a stranger here, and not conversant with our laws. The kings and queens of Egypt may not marry except with their own royal blood. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are born king and consort just as they are born brother and sister. BRITANNUS (shocked): Caesar: this is not proper. THEODOTUS (outraged): How! CAESAR (recovering his self-possession): Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature." in the context of "George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra (1898), Act II; the last statement has sometimes been paraphrased as: The customs of your tribe are not laws of nature." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Incest" (S) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#George Bernard Shaw#theodotus#caesar#laws#born#selfpossession#conversant#recovering#cleopatra#britannus#barbarian#stranger
George Bernard Shaw

About George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist with a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory. He wrote more than sixty plays, including such works as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.