Bertolt Brecht > Quotes

“Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“The human race tends to remember the abuses to which it has been subjected rather than the endearments. What's left of kisses? Wounds, however, leave scars.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“The first time it was reported that our friends were being butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. But when a thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of silence spread.
When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out "stop!"

When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer.”
― Bertolt Brecht, Selected Poems

“Art is not a mirror held up to reality
but a hammer with which to shape it.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.”
― Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo

“In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing.
About the dark times.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life”
― Bertolt Brecht, Jewish Wife and Other Short Plays: Includes: In Search of Justice; Informer; Elephant Calf; Measures Taken; Exception and the Rule; Salzburg Dance of Death

“Sometimes it's more important to be human, than to have good taste. ”
― Bertolt Brecht

“He who laughs last has not yet heard the bad news. ”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Nowadays, anyone who wishes to combat lies and ignorance and to write the truth must overcome at least five difficulties. He must have the courage to write the truth when truth is everywhere opposed; the keenness to recognize it, although it is everywhere concealed; the skill to manipulate it as a weapon; the judgment to select those in whose hands it will be effective; and the running to spread the truth among such persons.”
― Bertolt Brecht, Galileo

“All artforms are in the service of the greatest of all arts: the art of living.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is at their heels.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“People who understand everything get no stories.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“We attacked a foreign people and treated them like rebels. As you know, it's all right to treat barbarians barbarically. It's the desire to be barbaric that makes governments call their enemies barbarians.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Pleasures
First look from morning's window
The rediscovered book
Fascinated faces
Snow, the change of the seasons
The newspaper
The dog
Dialectics
Showering, swimming
Old music
Comfortable shoes
Comprehension
New music
Writing, planting
Traveling
Singing
Being friendly”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Denn die einen sind im Dunkeln
Und die anderen sind im Licht.
Und man sieht nur die im Lichte
Die im Dunkeln sieht man nicht.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“The shrill voices of those who give orders
Are full of fear like the squeakings of
Piglets awaiting the butcher's knife, as their fat arses
Sweat with anxiety in their office chairs....
Fear rules not only those who are ruled, but
The rulers too.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Alas,we who wanted kindness, could not be kind ourselves.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“When something seems ‘the most obvious thing in the world’ it means that any attempt to understand the world has been given up.”
― Bertolt Brecht, Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic

“The war which is coming
Is not the first one. There were
Other wars before it.
When the last one came to an end
There were conquerors and conquered.
Among the conquered the common people
Starved. Among the conquerors
The common people starved too.
”
― Bertolt Brecht, Poems 1913-1956

“Vergnügungen
Der erste Blick
aus dem Fenster am Morgen
Das wiedergefundene alte Buch
Begeisterte Gesichter
Schnee, der Wechsel der Jahreszeiten
Die Zeitung
Der Hund
Die Dialektik
Duschen, Schwimmen
Alte Musik
Bequeme Schuhe
Begreifen
Neue Musik
Schreiben, Pflanzen
Reisen
Singen
Freundlich sein”
― Bertolt Brecht

“For what's the use of talking with a man who has a disease and thinks about the stars?”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Das Schicksal des Menschen ist der Mensch.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Hay hombres que luchan un dia y son buenos. Hay otros que luchan un año y son mejores. Hay quienes luchan muchos años y son muy buenos. Pero hay los que luchan toda la vida: esos son los imprescindibles.

”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Unglücklich das Land, das Helden nötig hat”
― Bertolt Brecht

“He thought in other heads, and in his own, others besides himself thought”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“Why be a man when you can be a success.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“For time flows on, and if it did not, it would be a bad prospect for those who do not sit at golden tables. Methods become exhausted; stimuli no longer work. New problems appear and demand new methods. Reality changes; in order to represent it, modes of representation must also change. Nothing comes from nothing; the new comes from the old, but that is why it is new.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Natürlich muss die Wahrheit im Kampf mit der Unwahrheit geschrieben werden und sie darf nicht etwas Allgemeines, Hohes, Vieldeutiges sein. Von dieser allgemeinen, hohen, vieldeutigen Art ist ja gerade die Unwahrheit. Wenn von einem gesagt wird, er hat die Wahrheit gesagt, so haben zunächst einige oder viele oder einer etwas anderes gesagt, eine Lüge oder etwas Allgemeines, aber er hat die Wahrheit gesagt, etwas Praktisches, Tatsächliches, Unleugbares, das, um was es sich handelte.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“In the Dark times will there be sining?
Yes, and there will also be singing about the dark times.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Art is not a mirror. Art is a hammer.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Im Zustand der gefüllten Samenblase sieht der Mann in jedem Weib Aphrodite.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“He was weak on philosophy and an excellent driver, but his driving was a lot more dangerous than his philosophy.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Art is not a mirror held up to life, but a hammer with which to shape it.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Every day, to earn my daily bread I go to the market where lies are bought Hopefully I take up my place among the sellers.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Corpses sour you. They are bad for objectivity.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“General, your tank is a powerful vehicle
It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
But it has one defect:
It needs a driver.

General, your bomber is powerful.
It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
But it has one defect:
It needs a mechanic.

General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Sto lavorando duro per preparare il mio prossimo errore.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Sitting and sedition don't mix.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“It is easier to rob by setting up a bank than by holding up a bank clerk.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Charakter, das ist eine Zeitfrage. Er hält soundso lange, genau wie ein Handschuh. Es gibt gute, die halten lange. Aber sie halten nicht ewig.”
― Bertolt Brecht, Fear and Misery of the Third Reich

“people are taken much too seriously. one equals no one. anything less than two hundred at a time is not worth mentioning. of course, anybody can be of a different opinion. an opinion is of no consequence whatever. any level-headed man can level headedly adopt two or three different opinions.”
― Bertolt Brecht, Man Equals Man and The Elephant Calf

“unhappily, my wife is expecting me in connection with a fish”
― Bertolt Brecht, Man Equals Man and The Elephant Calf

“A Man lives off his head.
His head won't see him through.
Inspect your own—
What lives on that?
At most, a louse or two . . .”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Wir stehen selbst enttäuscht und sehn betroffen // Den Vorhang zu und alle Fragen offen”
― Bertolt Brecht, Bertolt Brecht, Der gute Mensch von Sezuan : Kommentare, Diskussionsaspekte und Anregungen für produktionsorientiertes Lesen

“Das Volk hat das Vertrauen der Regierung verscherzt.Wäre es da nicht doch einfacher,die Regierung löste das Volk auf und wählte ein anderes?”
― Bertolt Brecht