Bertolt Brecht
Birth Name: Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht
Birthdate: February 10, 1898
Birthplace: Augsburg, German Empire
Date of Death: August 14, 1956
Occupation: Playwright and Poet
Profile: Best known for
Mother Courage and Her Children.
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht
Number of Quotes: 79
A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.
Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.
Change is one thing, progress is another. Change
is scientific,
progress
is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy.
Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.
Don't tell me peace has broken out.
Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral.
First comes eating, then morality.
Everybody depends upon somebody.
Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels.
Everyone needs help from everyone.
Food first, then morality.
From the cradle to the coffin underwear comes first.
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.
Generosity is more profitable than avarice in business, if it attracts more customers.
Great sport begins at the point where it has ceased to be healthy.
Grub first, then ethics.
He who fights, can lose. He who doesn't fight, has already lost.
He who laughs has not yet heard the terrible news.
Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.
I have noticed that it is often the people who refuse to recognize their mistakes, who then repeat them.
I want to be useful and enjoyable to as many people as possible. That is to say, I want to be
popular. And I must take care not to become unpopular with myself while I am being popular with others.
If you are struggling, you are still in the game. If you are comfortable, you are out of it.
In the dark times will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.
Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.
It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.
It takes courage to say that the good were useless, that the gentle were not heroic, and that those who forgave were fools.
It's all right to hesitate if you then go ahead.
Justice is the bread of the people.
Learning is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.
Many speak the truth when they say that they despise riches, but they mean the riches possessed by other men.
Mixing one's wines may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably.
No one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand.
No one will improve your lot if you do not yourself.
Nothing is more important than that people see the state of they are in.
Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear, and he shows them, pearly white. Just a jackknife has Macheath, dear, and he keeps it out of sight.
The Threepenny Opera
One forgets too easily the difference between a man and his image, and that there is none between the sound of his voice on the screen and in real life.
People are too durable, that's their main trouble. They can do too much to themselves, they last too long.
People remain what they are even if their faces fall apart.
Poverty makes you sad as well as wise.
Poverty makes you wise but it's a curse.
Poverty is the worst form of violence.
Science knows only one commandment — contribute to science.
Society cannot share a common communication system so long as it is split into warring factions.
Sometimes it's more important to be human, than to have good taste.
The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.
The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born.
The defeats and victories of the fellows at the top aren't always defeats and victories for the fellows at the bottom.
The finest plans have always been spoiled by the littleness of those who should carry them out. Even emperors can't do it all by themselves.
The law was made for one thing alone, for the exploitation of those who don't understand it, or are prevented by naked misery from obeying it.
The Threepenny Opera
The mob gives you a crown, the mob takes it away.
The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn when teachers themselves are taught to learn.
The worst illiterate is the political illiterate.
There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two.
There are many elements to a great love: the sexual, the intellectual, the spiritual, and the childish.
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out.
They've grown familiar with each other's shit. That's what they call their love.
The Threepenny Opera
Thinking is one of the greatest pleasures of the human race.
This is wisdom: to want it all, and to understand that you cannot have it all.
Those who have eaten their fill speak to the hungry of the wonderful times to come.
To be or not to be is not a question of choice. The question is, who is to be the owner of that being
?
To live means to finesse the processes to which one is subjugated.
Right is its own defense.
Temptation to behave is terrible.
Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes.
More literal translation of the Pity the nation...
line
from Galileo.
War is like love; it always finds a way.
We must always be prepared for people to change. The most stubborn reactionary can
become a revolutionary. The most disciplined revolutionary can become a reactionary.
What a miserable thing life is: you're living in clover, only the clover isn't good enough.
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?
What they could do with 'round here is a good war. What else can you expect with peace
running wild all over the place? You know what the trouble with peace is? No organization.
Mother Courage and Her Children
When an age is in decline, all signs point in that direction, and even the genius of the time contributes to its decline.
When crime begins to pay, it becomes respectable.
Whenever there are great virtues, it's a sure sign something's wrong.
Who fights can lose. Who does not fight has already lost.
Who is the greater criminal: he who robs a bank, or he who founds one?
Why be a man when you can be a success?
Will there be singing in the dark times? Yes, there will be singing about the dark times.
Woe to the land that has no heroes. No, woe to the land that needs heroes.
You don't need to pray to God any
more when there are storms in the sky, but you do have to be insured.
Zeal is not a bad thing, but it often lacks the necessary patience and cunning.
Last on Earth
