Those who can, do; . . .

Posted by Masakim on January 02, 2002

In Reply to: Those who can, do; . . . posted by R. Berg on January 02, 2002

: : Source (?); "those who can, do: those who can't, teach". While the meaning is obvious, where did it come from? Any help?

: It's attributed to George Bernard Shaw. I don't know the details or even whether that attribution is correct. Anybody else?

He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
--G.B. Shaw, "Maxims for Revolutionists" in
_Man and Superman_

"Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." Like most sayings, this is only half true. Those who can, teach; those who can't -- the bitter, the misguided, the failures from other fields -- find in the school system an excuse or a refuge.
--Bel Kaufman, _Up the Down Staircase_

Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. --George Bernard Shaw
(And those who can't teach, teach the teachers.)
--Laurence J. Peter, _Peter's Quotations: Ideas for our Time_

A version of an old adage came to me -- those who can, do, those who can't, attend conferences.
--_Daily Telegraph_, August 6, 1979