The Threepenny Opera Quotes

“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

“يا حارس السجن ليه خايف من المسجون
هي الحيطان اللي بينا قش يا ملعون
و لا السلاسل ورق و لا السجين شمشون”
― نجيب سرور, أوبريت ملك الشحاتين

“One must live well to know what living is.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“The wickedness of the world is so great, you have to keep running so your legs won't be stolen from under you!”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

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

“For once you must try not to shirk the facts:
Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“And I did work out something: that the rich of the earth indeed create misery, but they cannot bear to see it. They are weaklings and fools just like you. As long as they have enough to eat and can grease their floors with butter so that even the crumbs that fall from your table grow fat, they can't look with indifference on a man collapsing from hunger - although, of course, it must be in front of their house that he collapses.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“Mankind lives by its head
Its head won't see him through
Inspect your own. What lives off that?
At most a louse or two.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“1.Tanrı: Ne biçim dünya bu? Her yanda sefalet, bayağılık, pislik! Doğayı da katletmişler.Güzelim ağaçları tellerle idam etmişler.Dağların ötesinde duman bulutlarından göz gözü görmüyor. Gök gürültüsünün yerini top sesleri almış. Bütün bunların arasında paçasını kurtarabilen tek kişiye rastlamadık.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“Yes, I'm the one who washes the plates and glasses
They call me an easy woman
When they give me a penny
I still have to say thank you
Here I am, in ragged clothes
At the bottom of this shabby hotel
Today, you don't know who I am
Today, you don't know who I am
 
But one evening, one beautiful evening
A big commotion
People running along the shore
Saying: "Look who's coming!"
And me, I'll smile for the first time
They'll say: "You, you're smiling now?"
 
A big ship
A hundred cannons at the portholes
Will enter the harbour!
 
I'll always be washing
The glasses and plates
I'll always be an "easy woman"
When they give me a penny
I'll always say thank you
I'll keep my ragged clothes
At the bottom of this shabby hotel
And tomorrow, tomorrow like today
You'll never know who I am!
 
But one evening, that beautiful evening for which I live
Look how the cannons
Wake up and turn
For the first time, I'll burst out laughing
"What, brat, you have the heart to laugh?"
 
That big ship
A hundred cannons at the portholes
Will bombard the harbour!
 
Then the sailors will come to shore
More than a hundred, they'll mark with a cross of blood
Every house, every door
And it's before me that will be brought
Enchained, imploring, mutilated and bloodied
Your kind, all your kind, fine gentlemen!
Your kind, all your kind, fine gentlemen!
 
Then the one I'm waiting for will appear, he'll say to me:
"What is it that you want from all these people I'm killing?"
And I'll sweetly reply:
"Kill them all! For each head that falls
I'll clap my hands, here we go!
And that big ship,
Far from the city where everything will be dead
Will carry me towards life!”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“For the wickedness of the world is so great you have to run your legs off in order to avoid having them stolen from under you.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“You may proclaim, good sirs, your fine philosophy, but till you feed us right and wrong can wait. Or is it only those who have the money who can enter the land of milk and honey?”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“You gentlemen who think you have a mission
To purge us of the seven deadly sins
Should first sort out the basic food position
Then start your preaching: that's where it begins
You lot, who preach restraint and watch your waist as well
Should learn for once the way the world is run
However much you twist, whatever lies that you tell
Food is the first thing. Morals follow on
So first make sure that those who now are starving
Get proper helpings when we all start carving”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“Сначала хлеб, а нравственность - потом.”
― Бертольт Брехт, The Threepenny Opera

“Poverty makes you sad as well as wise”
― Eric Bentley, The Threepenny Opera

“حقًا إن الجسد الإنساني في قبضة الذهن والروح معًا”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“JAKE known as Crook-fingered Jake: Congratulations! At 14 Ginger Street there were some people on the second floor. We had to smoke them out. BOB known as Bob the Saw: Congratulations! A copper got done in the Strand. MAC: Amateurs. NED: We did all we could, but three people in the West End were past saving. Congratulations! MAC: Amateurs and bunglers. JIMMY: An old gent got hurt a bit, but I don’t think it’s anything serious. Congratulations. MAC: My orders were: avoid bloodshed. It makes me sick to think of it. You’ll never make business men! Cannibals, perhaps, but not business men! WALTER known as Dreary Walt: Congratulations. Only half an hour ago, Madam, that harpsichord belonged to the Duchess of Somerset.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“FILCH: Oh, you use them again? Why can’t I do the better days act? PEACHUM: Because nobody can make his own suffering sound convincing, my boy. If you have a bellyache and say so, people will simply be disgusted.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“The Ballad of Mac the Knife Fair in Soho. The beggars are begging, the thieves are stealing, the whores are whoring. A ballad singer sings a ballad. See the shark with teeth like razors. All can read his open face. And Macheath has got a knife, but Not in such an obvious place. See the shark, how red his fins are As he slashes at his prey. Mac the Knife wears white kid gloves which Give the minimum away.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“The dress rehearsal must have been disastrous, the reactions of the first-night audience a confirmation of this, lasting right into the second scene, even after the singing of ‘Pirate Jenny’ in the stable. But with the ‘Cannon Song’ the applause suddenly burst loose. Quite unexpectedly, inspiredly, improvisedly, management and collaborators found themselves with the greatest German hit of the 1920s on their hands.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“Yes, I'm the one who washes the plates and glasses
They call me an easy woman
When they give me a penny
I still have to say thank you
Here I am, in ragged clothes
At the bottom of this shabby hotel
Today, you don't know who I am
Today, you don't know who I am

But one evening, one beautiful evening
A big commotion
People running along the shore
Saying: "Look who's coming!"
And me, I'll smile for the first time
They'll say: "You, you're smiling now?"

A big ship
A hundred cannons at the portholes
Will enter the harbour!

I'll always be washing
The glasses and plates
I'll always be an "easy woman"
When they give me a penny
I'll always say thank you
I'll keep my ragged clothes
At the bottom of this shabby hotel
And tomorrow, tomorrow like today
You'll never know who I am!

But one evening, that beautiful evening for which I live
Look how the cannons
Wake up and turn
For the first time, I'll burst out laughing
"What, brat, you have the heart to laugh?"

That big ship
A hundred cannons at the portholes
Will bombard the harbour!

Then the sailors will come to sure
More than a hundred, they'll mark with a cross of blood
Every house, every door
And it's before me that will be brought
Enchained, imploring, mutilated and bloodied
Your kind, all your kind, fine gentlemen!
Your kind, all your kind, fine gentlemen!

Then the one I'm waiting for will appear, he'll say to me:
"What is it that you want from all these people I'm killing?"
And I'll sweetly reply:
"Kill them all! For each head that falls
I'll clap my hands, here we go!
And that big ship,
Far from the city where everything will be dead
Will carry me towards life!”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“La legge è fatta esclusivamente per lo sfruttamento di coloro che non la capiscano, o ai quali la brutale necessità non permette di rispettarla.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

“Nos hoec novimus esse nihil" {"Мы-то знаем, что это - ничто" (лат.).”
― Бертольт Брехт, The Threepenny Opera

“Ведь кто не легкомыслен из людей!
Ах, если б все благоразумней были!”
― Бертольт Брехт, The Threepenny Opera