Quotes from Bertolt Brecht

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?...

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.

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.

Unglücklich das Land, das Helden nötig hat

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Grub first, then ethics.

Food comes first and then morality Bertolt brecht

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.

Boy meets girl. So what?

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.

Das Schicksal des Menschen ist der Mensch.

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

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

Think with feeling