Quotes from Bertolt Brecht

Sventurata la terra che ha bisogno di eroi.

Ich wäre gerne auch weise In den alten Büchern steht, was weise ist: Sich aus dem Streit der Welt halten und die kurze Zeit Ohne Furcht verbringen Auch ohne Gewalt auskommen Böses mit Gutem vergelten Seine Wünsche nicht erfüllen, sondern vergessen Gilt für weise. Alles das kann ich nicht.

La guerra che verrà non è la prima. Prima ci sono state altre guerre. Alla fine dell'ultima C'erano vincitori e vinti. Fra i vinti la povera gente Faceva la fame. Fra i vincitori Faceva la fame la povera gente egualmente.

LOS DE ARRIBA se han reunido en una sala. Hombre de la calle: abandona toda esperanza. Los gobiernos firman pactos de no agresión. Hombre pequeño: escribe tu testamento.

Do rio que tudo arrasta se diz que é violento, mas ninguém diz violentas as margens que o comprimem.

Nu ar fi mai simplu pentru guvern sa dizolve poporul si sa aleaga altul?

What happens to the hole once the cheese has been eaten?

Humorlose Leute sind lächerlich.

When the Regime commanded the unlawful books to be burned, teams of dull oxen hauled huge cartloads to the bonfires. Then a banished writer, one of the best, scanning the list of excommunicated texts, became enraged: he'd been excluded! He rushed to his desk, full of contemptuous wrath, to write fierce letters to the morons in power — Burn me! he wrote with his blazing pen — Haven't I always reported the truth? Now here you are, treating me like a liar! Burn me!

La verità è figlia del tempo e non dell'autorità.

Sapete come si sviluppa la perla nell'ostrica? Un corpo estraneo insopportabile, per esempio un granello di sabbia, penetra dentro al guscio, e l'ostrica, per seppellire quel granello, secerne calce; e in questo processo rischia la morte. Allora, dico io, al diavolo la perla, purché l'ostrica resti sana!

E la somma degli angoli di un triangolo non può variare a seconda degli interessi della Curia

La gente che soffre mi annoia, la sfortuna generalmente è dovuta a un errore di calcolo » e « quando ci si trova davanti un ostacolo, la linea più breve tra due punti può essere una linea curva ».

Er hatte erkannt, dass er selber ein Kahn war

Who fights for Communism must be able to fight and not to fight, to speak the truth and not to speak the truth, to perform services and not to perform services, to keep promises and not to keep promises, to go into danger and to keep out of danger, to be recognizable and not to be recognizable. Who fights for Communism has only one of all the virtues: that he fights for Communism.

La science ne connaît qu'une loi : la contribution scientifique. (Scène 14, Andrea, La Vie de Galilée, Bertolt Brecht )

What else can you expect with peace running wild all over the place? You know what the trouble with peace is? No organization.

Die da alt sind, hör ich, haben nichts zu hoffen Denn nur Zeit schafft's, und an Zeit gebricht's. Doch uns Jungen, hör ich, steht das Tor weit offen Freilich, hör ich, steht es offen nur ins Nichts.

Es curioso. Cuando se oye hablar a los señorones, sólo hacen la guerra por el temor de Dios y por todo lo que es bueno y hermoso. Pero si bien se mira no son tan tontos y hacen la guerra por la ganancia.

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 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.