“Life is no 'brief candle' to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
This quote has no known author and is recorded as an anonymous proverb.
About this quote
Shaw is answering the old line about human life being a candle burnt at both ends, and the reply is that the shortened life is not the problem, the unused torch is. He wrote it inside a comedy, which is where most of his serious ideas ended up.
Source: Man and Superman