Bertolt Brecht > Quotes

“Art is not a mirror held up to reality
but a hammer with which to shape it.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“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.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Motto"

In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing.
About the dark times.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“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.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“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.”
― Bertolt Brecht, Selected Poems: The Influential 20th Century German Poet's Accessible Bilingual Collection for Modern Readers

“The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.”
― Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo

“What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Sometimes it's more important to be human, than to have good taste. ”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.”
― Bertold Brecht

“Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life”
― Bertolt Brecht, Jewish Wife and Other Short Plays: Includes: In Search of Justice; Informer; Elephant Calf; Measures Taken; Exception and the Rule; Salzburg Dance of Death

“Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes”
― Bertolt Brecht, Galileo

“First of all, they came to take the gypsies
and I was happy because they pilfered.
Then they came to take the Jews and I said nothing,
because they were unpleasant to me.
Then they came to take homosexuals,
and I was relieved, because they were annoying me.
Then they came to take the Communists,
and I said nothing because I was not a Communist.
One day they came to take me,
and there was nobody left to protest.

Bertold Brecht, inspired by Emil Gustav Friedrich Martin Niemöller”
― Bertold Brecht

“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.”
― Bertolt Brecht, Galileo

“He who laughs last has not yet heard the bad news. ”
― Bertolt Brecht

“People who understand everything get no stories.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“All artforms are in the service of the greatest of all arts: the art of living.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“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”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Don’t be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.”
― Bertholt Brecht

“What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?”
― Bertolt Brecht

“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.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“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.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Alas,we who wanted kindness, could not be kind ourselves.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is at their heels.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“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.”
― Bertolt Brecht, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

“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.
”
― Bertolt Brecht, Poems 1913-1956

“میان همه ی چیزهای قطعی،قطعی ترینشان تردید است”
― برتولت برشت

“As crimes pile up, they become invisible.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“When something seems ‘the most obvious thing in the world’ it means that any attempt to understand the world has been given up.”
― Bertolt Brecht, Brecht on Theatre