Bertolt Brecht Quotes

Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.

Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.

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.

Motto" In the dark times Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.

The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.

What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?

Sometimes it's more important to be human, than to have good taste.

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.

Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life

Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes

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.

He who laughs last has not yet heard the bad news.

People who understand everything get no stories.

All artforms are in the service of the greatest of all arts: the art of living.

Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.

What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?

Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is at their heels.

Alas,we who wanted kindness, could not be kind ourselves.

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.

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

As crimes pile up, they become invisible.

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.

When something seems ‘the most obvious thing in the world’ it means that any attempt to understand the world has been given up.

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.

Why be a man when you can be a success.

What kind of times are these, when To talk about trees is almost a crime Because it implies silence about so many horrors?

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.

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.

If you join the rat race — you're in the race of rats.

I want to go with the one I love. I do not want to calculate the cost. I do not want to think about whether it's good. I do not want to know whether he loves me. I want to go with whom I love...

Weaknesses You had none I had one: I loved.

If we could learn to look instead of gawking, We'd see the horror in the heart of farce, If only we could act instead of talking, We wouldn't always end up on our arse. This was the thing that nearly had us mastered; Don't yet rejoice in his defeat, you men! Although the world stood up and stopped the bastard, The bitch that bore him is in heat again.

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.

Every time you name yourself, you name someone else.

Thinking is one of the greatest pleasures of the human race.

Such a lot is won when even a single man gets to his feet and says No

For what's the use of talking with a man who has a disease and thinks about the stars?

What are you working on?” Mr. K. was asked. Mr. K. replied: “I’m having a hard time; I’m preparing my next mistake.

One must live well to know what living is.

Happy is the people who need no heroes.

It is easier to rob by setting up a bank than by holding up a bank clerk.

A man who doesn't know the truth is just an idiot, but a man who knows the truth and calls it a lie is a crook.

The rope has been torn; a knot Can tie it again, but It’s been torn. Perhaps we’ll meet again, but You won’t find me In the place where we parted ways.

Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero! No, Andrea....unhappy is the land that needs a hero.

Food comes first and then morality Bertolt brecht

The river that everything drags is known as violent, but nobody calls violent the margins that arrest him.

For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again.

Those who are weak don't fight. Those who are stronger might fight for an hour. Those who are stronger still might fight for many years. The strongest fight their whole life. They are the indispensable ones.

One cannot write poems about trees when the forest is full of police.

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.

Art is not a mirror. Art is a hammer.

On a certain day in the blue-moon month of September Beneath a young plum tree, quietly I held her there, my quiet, pale beloved In my arms just like a graceful dream. And over us in the beautiful summer sky There was a cloud on which my gaze rested It was very white and so immensely high And when I looked up, it had disappeared.

Some party hack decreed that the people had lost the government's confidence and could only regain it with redoubled effort. If that is the case, would it not be be simpler, If the government simply dissolved the people And elected another?

به گرسنه‌ای که قرص نانتان را از شما بگیرد به چشم دشمنتان نگاه میکنید اما خرخرۀ آن دزدهایی که گرسنگی نکشیده‌اند را نمیگیرید

Those who are against Fascism without being against capitalism, who lament over the barbarism that comes out of barbarism, are like people who wish to eat their veal without slaughtering the calf.

Then I will tell you something. I do not believe in it. Forty years among men has consistently taught me that they are not amenable to common sense. Show them the red tail of a comet, fill them with black terror, and they will all come running out of their houses and break their legs. But tell them one sensible proposition and support it with seven reasons, and they will simply laugh in your face

Hatred of oppression still distorts the features, Anger at injustice still makes voices raised and ugly. Oh we, who wished to lay for the foundations for peace and friendliness, Could never be friendly ourselves.

Who built the seven towers of Thebes? The books are filled with the names of kings. Was it kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?... In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished Where did the masons go?...

Unglücklich das Land, das Helden nötig hat

I'm teaching all the time. When am I to learn?

For time is short and the unknown surrounds us; and it isn't enough just to live unthinking and happy, calmly bearing oppression and only learning wisdom with age.

Therefore learn how to see and not to gape. To act instead of talking all day long. The world was almost won by such an ape! The nations put him where his kind belong. But don't rejoice too soon at your escape - The womb he crawled from is still going strong.

I won't let you spoil my war for me. Destroys the weak, does it? Well, what does peace do for'em, huh? War feeds its people better.

The wickedness of the world is so great, you have to keep running so your legs won't be stolen from under you!

When the waters poured into Atlantis, the rich men still screamed for their slaves.

Art is not a mirror held up to society but a hammer with which to shape it.

Grub first, then ethics.

Das Schicksal des Menschen ist der Mensch.

All the world says: yes we know what’s written in the books but now let’s see what our eyes tell us.

Wir stehen selbst enttäuscht und sehn betroffen // Den Vorhang zu und alle Fragen offen

Boy meets girl. So what?

-Τι κάνετε όταν αγαπάτε έναν άνθρωπο; ρώτησαν τον κύριο Κ. -Του φτιάχνω ένα σκίτσο, είπε ο κύριος Κ. και φροντίζω να του μοιάζει. -Ποιο; Το σκίτσο; -Όχι, ο άνθρωπος, είπε ο κύριος Κ.

Sin is what is new, strong, surprising, strange. The theatre must take an interest in sin if the young are to be able to go there.

إنه ليل رهيب للإنسان، ذلك الليل الذي تتكشف فيه الحقيقة. انها ساعة من العمى تلك التي يؤمن فيها الإنسان بعقل البشر.

Schwächen: Du hattest keine. Ich hatte eine. Ich liebte.

ليس من رحلة أشق من العودة إلى العقل..!

We're not responsible, he thought. This planet is a temporary affair. It's whizzing with all kinds of other ones, a whole range of planetary stuff, toward a star in the Milky Way. On that kind of a planet we're not responsible, he thought.

Write me what you're wearing! Is it warm? Write me how you lie! Do you lie there softly? Write me how you look! Is it still the same? Write me what you're missing! Is it my arm? Write me how you are! Have you been spared? Write me what they're doing! Do you have enough courage? Write me what you're doing! Is it good? Write me, who are you thinking of? Is it me? Freely, I've given you only my questions. And I hear the answers, how they fall. When you're tired, I can't carry it for you. If you're hungry, I have nothing for you to eat. And so now I leave the world No longer there, as if I've forgotten you.

Who built Thebes of the seven gates? In the books you will find the name of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock? And Babylon, many times demolished. Who raised it up so many times? In what houses Of gold-glittering Lima did the builders live? Where, the evening that the Wall of China was finished Did the masons go? Great Rome Is full of triumphal arches. Who erected them? Over whom Did the Caesars triumph? Had Byzantium, much praised in song, Only palaces for its inhabitants? Even in fabled Atlantis The night the ocean engulfed it The drowning still bawled for their slaves.

He was weak on philosophy and an excellent driver, but his driving was a lot more dangerous than his philosophy.

The compassion of the oppressed for the oppressed is indispensable. It is the world's one hope.

Sitting and sedition don't mix.

Think with feeling

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

Wer die Wahrheit nicht weiß, der ist bloß ein Dummkopf. Aber wer sie weiß und sie eine Lüge nennt, der ist ein Verbrecher.

He thought in other heads, and in his own, others besides himself thought

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

To those who do not know that the world is on fire, I have nothing to say.

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.

Corpses sour you. They are bad for objectivity.

حقا انني اعيش في زمان اسود الكلمه الطيبه لا تجد من يسمعها الجبهه الصافيه تفضح الخيانه ومن لا يزال يضحك لم يسمع بالنبا الرهيب بعد

For once you must try not to shirk the facts: Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts.

What gets lost in bestowing of classical status on a work, is the book's original freshness, the element of surprise…of newness, of productive stimulus that is the hallmark of such works...the passionate quality of a great masterpiece.

Charakter, das ist eine Zeitfrage. Er hält soundso lange, genau wie ein Handschuh. Es gibt gute, die halten lange. Aber sie halten nicht ewig.

ریشه ی اعتقاد از آن جا خشک می شود که بخواهند تحمیلش کنند!

Knowledge is just a commodity. It is acquired in order to be resold. All those who have grown out of going to school have to do their learning virtually in secret, for anyone who admits the he has still something to learn devalues himself as a man whose knowledge is inadequate.

One day somebody asked Herr K. if there was a God. Herr K. replied: "I suggest that you ask yourself whether the answer would effect your behavior. If your behavior would remain unchanged, then we can drop the question. If it would change, then I can at least be of assistance to you by telling you that you have already decided: you need a God.

The Solution After the uprising of the 17th of June The Secretary of the Writers Union Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee Stating that the people Had forfeited the confidence of the government And could win it back only By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier In that case for the government To dissolve the people And elect another?

„[…] und eure neuen Maschinen mögen nur neue Drangsale bedeuten. Ihr mögt mit der Zeit alles entdecken, was es zu entdecken gibt, und euer Fortschritt wird doch nur ein Fortschritt von der Menschheit weg sein. Die Kluft zwischen euch und ihr kann eines Tages so groß werden, dass euer Jubelschrei über irgendeine neue Errungenschaft von einem universalen Entsetzensschrei beantwortet werden könnte.

The neo-cons, or some of them, decided that they would back Clinton when he belatedly decided for Bosnia and Kosovo against Milosevic, and this even though they loathed Clinton, because the battle against religious and ethnic dictatorship in the Balkans took precedence. This, by the way, was partly a battle to save Muslims from Catholic and Christian Orthodox killers. That impressed me. The neo-cons also took the view, quite early on, that coexistence with Saddam Hussein was impossible as well as undesirable. They were dead right about that. They had furthermore been thinking about the menace of jihadism when most people were half-asleep. And then I have to say that I was rather struck by the way that the Weekly Standard and its associated voices took the decision to get rid of Trent Lott earlier this year, thus removing an embarrassment as well as a disgrace from the political scene. And their arguments were on points of principle, not 'perception.' I liked their ruthlessness here, and their seriousness, at a time when much of the liberal Left is not even seriously wrong, but frivolously wrong, and babbles without any sense of responsibility. (I mean, have you read their sub-Brechtian stuff on Halliburton....?) And revolution from above, in some states and cases, is—as I wrote in my book A Long Short War—often preferable to the status quo, or to no revolution at all.