Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Bertolt Brecht
78 quotes
“People remain what they are even if their faces fall apart.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1923 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Garga, from In the Jungle of Cities [Im Dickicht der Städte] (1923) , sc. 9; also translated as In the Swamp and Jungle of Cities.
“But something's missing (Aber etwas fehlt).”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1930 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jim[my] Mahoney, in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1930)
“A man who strains himself on the stage is bound, if he is any good, to strain all the people sitting in the stalls.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1926 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Emphasis on Sport" in the Berliner Börsen-Courier (6 February 1926), as quoted in Brecht on Theatre (1964) edited and translated by John Willett.
“The main objective is to learn to think crudely. Crude thinking is the great one's thinking.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dreigroschenroman (1934), reprinted in Gesammelte Werke, vol. 13 (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1967), 916.
“Do not treat me in this fashion. Don't leave me out. Have I not Always spoken the truth in my books? And now You treat me like a liar! I order you: Burn me!”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A response to the Nazi book burnings, "The Burning of the Books" ("Die Bücherverbrennung", c. 1935)
“Let nothing be called natural In an age of bloody confusion, Ordered disorder, planned caprice, And dehumanized humanity, lest all things Be held unalterable!”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Exception and the Rule (1937), Prologue
“Literary works cannot be taken over like factories, or literary forms of expression like industrial methods. Realist writing, of which history offers many widely varying examples, is likewise conditioned by the question of how, when and for what class it is made use of.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Popular and the Realistic" (written 1938, published 1958), as translated in Brecht on Theatre (1964) edited and translated by John Willett.
“Those who lead the country into the abyss Call ruling too difficult For ordinary men.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a German War Primer" ("Catón de Guerra Alemán", 1938)
“First comes a full stomach, then comes ethics.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And the shark he has his teeth and There they are for all to see And Macheath he has his knife but No one knows where it may be.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My business is too difficult. My business is trying to arouse human pity. There are few things that'll move people to pity, a few, but the trouble is when they've been used several times, they no longer work. So it happens, for instance, that a man who sees another man on the street corner with only a stump for an arm will be so shocked the first time that he'll give him sixpence. But the second time it'll only be a threepenny bit. And if he sees him a third time, he'll hand him over cold-bloodedly to the police.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You may proclaim, good sirs, your fine philosophy But till you feed us, right and wrong can wait!”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Used by the Pet Shop Boys, in "What Keeps Mankind Alive?", Can You Forgive Her (1993 EP)
“For once you must try not to shirk the facts: Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The law is simply and solely made for the exploitation of those who do not understand it or of those who, for naked need, cannot obey it.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For the task assigned them Men aren't smart enough or sly Any rogue can blind them With a clever lie.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is the burgling of a bank to the founding of a bank?”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mr. Wurlitzer, I am now in a position to receive your organ.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You don't need to pray to God any more when there are storms in the sky, but you do have to be insured.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Democracy Unbound : Progressive Challenges to the Two Party System (1997) by David Reynolds; also quoted by Cuban musician and poet Silvio Rodríguez before his song "Sueño con serpientes".
“Ah, what an age it is When to speak of trees is almost a crime For it is a kind of silence about injustice!”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Posterity" (1939) as translated by H. R. Hays (1947)
“Always the victor writes the history of the vanquished. He who beats distorts the faces of the beaten. The weaker depart from this world and the lies remain.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1940), Brecht Collected Plays, vol. 4, p. 386.
“Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Referring to Arturo Ui (representing Adolf Hitler), in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1941)
“To live means to finesse the processes to which one is subjugated.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes on Philosophy" in On Politics and Society (1941).
“Mixing one's wines may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Singer, in The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1944), Prologue
“Mitfühlend sehe ich Die geschwollenen Stirnadern, andeutend Wie anstrengend es ist, böse zu sein.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1942 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Mask of Evil" ("Die Maske des Bösen", 1942), as translated in Brecht on Brecht: An Improvisation (1967) by George Tabori, p. 14
“It is not enough to demand insight and informative images of reality from the theater. Our theater must stimulate a desire for understanding, a delight in changing reality. Our audience must experience not only the ways to free Prometheus, but be schooled in the very desire to free him. Theater must teach all the pleasures and joys of discovery, all the feelings of triumph associated with liberation.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Essays on the Art of Theater (1954).
“The more innocent they are, the more they deserve to be shot.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On defendants in the Moscow Trials and on innocents betrayed by Communist Party members, as recounted by philosopher Sidney Hook, as quoted in Intellectuals (1990) by Paul Johnson, p. 190; though this might easily be in…
“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 simpler, If the government simply dissolved the people And elected another?”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Solution" ["Die Lösung", c. 1953), as translated in Brecht on Brecht : An Improvisation (1967) by George Tabori, p. 17
“The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn When teachers themselves are taught to learn.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Andrea: Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero. Galileo: No, Andrea: Unhappy is the land that needs a hero. [Unglücklich das Land, das Helden nötig hat.]”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science has only one commandment: contribution.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As translated by Howard Brenton (1980)
“The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set some limit on infinite error.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Komm, geh mit angeln, sagte der Fischer zum Wurm.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“War is like love, it always finds a way.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sometimes I have visions of myself driving through hell, selling sulphur and brimstone, or through heaven peddling refreshments to the roaming souls. If me and the children I've got left could find a place where there's no shooting, I wouldn't mind a few years of peace and quiet.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bezeig du Interesse an ihrer Güte, denn keiner kann lang gut sein, wenn nicht Güte verlangt wird.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We need a type of theatre which not only releases the feelings, insights and impulses possible within the particular historical field of human relations in which the action takes place, but employs and encourages those thoughts and feelings which help transform the field itself.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Society cannot share a common communication system so long as it is split into warring factions.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If art reflects life, it does so with special mirrors.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art and science coincide insofar as both aim to improve the lives of men and women. The latter normally concerns itself with profit, the former with pleasure. In the coming age, art will fashion our entertainment out of new means of productivity in ways that will simultaneously enhance our profit and maximize our pleasure.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Firebugs dragging their gasoline bottles Are approaching the Academy of Arts, with a grin. And so, instead of embracing them, Let us demand the freedom of the elbow To knock the bottles out of their filthy hands. Even the most blockheaded bureaucrat, Provided he loves peace, Is a greater lover of the arts Than any so-called art-lover Who loves the arts of war.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Freedom for Whom", as translated in Brecht on Brecht : An Improvisation (1967) by George Tabori, p. 18
“Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. (Weil die Dinge sind, wie sie sind, werden die Dinge nicht so bleiben wie sie sind.)”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Dictionary of Contemporary Quotations (1976) by John Gordon Burke and Ned Kehde, p. 224, also in The Book of Positive Quotations (2007) by John Cook, p. 390
“Oh why do we not say the important things, it would be so easy, and we are damned because we do not.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Song about my mother" [Lied von meiner Mutter], from "Thirteen Psalms" (1920), trans. Christopher Middleton in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 40
“And when she was finished they laid her in earth Flowers growing, butterflies juggling over her... She, so light, barely pressed the earth down How much pain it took to make her as light as that!”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To my mother" [Meiner Mutter] (May 1920), trans. John Willett in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 49
“Worship with fulness of heart the weak memory of heaven! It cannot trace Either your name or your face Nobody knows you're still living.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Great hymn of thanksgiving" [Grosser Dankchoral] (1920) from The Devotions (1922-1927); trans. Karl Neumann in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 74
“Oh the harsh snarl of guitar strings roaring! Heavenly distensions of our throats! Trousers stiff with dirt and love! Such whoring! Long green slimy nights: we were like stoats.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Those days of my youth" [O, Ihr Zeiten meiner Jugend] (1921), trans. John Willett in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 76
“Marie Farrar: month of birth, April Died in the Meissen penitentiary An unwed mother, judged by the law, she will Show you how all that lives, lives frailly. You who bear your sons in laundered linen sheets And call your pregnancies a "blessed" state Should never damn the outcast and the weak: Her sin was heavy, but her suffering great. Therefore, I beg, make not your anger manifest For all that lives needs help from all the rest.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Of the infanticide Marie Farrar" [Von der Kindesmörderin Marie Farrar] (1920) from Devotions (1922-1927); trans. Sidney H. Bremer in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 92
“Here today we huddle tight As the darkest heathens might The snow falls chilly on our skin The snow is forcing its way in. Hush, snow, come in with us to dwell: We were thrown out by Heaven as well.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Christmas legend" [Weinachtslegende] (1923), Berliner Börsen-Courier (25 December 1924); trans. in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 99