BERTOLT BRECHT QUOTES

German playwright & poet (1898-1956)

Grub first, then ethics.

BERTOLT BRECHT

The Threepenny Opera


Unhappy the land that needs heroes.

BERTOLT BRECHT

Life of Galileo


The law was made for one thing alone, for the exploitation of those who don't understand it.

BERTOLT BRECHT

The Threepenny Opera


There are some with brains and some without. It makes for a better division of labour.

BERTOLT BRECHT

Baal


What is robbing a bank compared with founding a bank?

BERTOLT BRECHT

The Threepenny Opera


Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.

BERTOLT BRECHT

The Mother


War is like love, it always finds a way.

BERTOLT BRECHT

Mother Courage and Her Children

Tags: war


Though the rich of this earth find no difficulty in creating misery, they can't bear to see it.

BERTOLT BRECHT

The Threepenny Opera


The man who laughs has simply not yet had the terrible news.

BERTOLT BRECHT

"To Those Born Later"


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

The Exception and the Rule


From the start it has been the theatre's business to entertain people ... it needs no other passport than fun.

BERTOLT BRECHT

A Short Organum for the Theatre


The storm that bends the birch trees
Is held to be violent
But how about the storm
That bends the backs of the roadworkers?

BERTOLT BRECHT

"On Violence"


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

"When Evil-Doing Comes Like Falling Rain"


If art reflects life, it does so with special mirrors.

BERTOLT BRECHT

A Short Organum for the Theatre


Mixing one's wines may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably.

BERTOLT BRECHT

The Caucasian Chalk Circle


People remain what they are even if their faces fall apart.

BERTOLT BRECHT

In the Jungle of Cities


To live means to finesse the processes to which one is subjugated.

BERTOLT BRECHT

On Politics and Society


You may proclaim, good sirs, your fine philosophy
But till you feed us, right and wrong can wait!

BERTOLT BRECHT

The Threepenny Opera


The theater-goer in conventional dramatic theater says: Yes, I've felt that way, too. That's the way I am. That's life. That's the way it will always be. The suffering of this or that person grips me because there is no escape for him. That's great art -- Everything is self-evident. I am made to cry with those who cry, and laugh with those who laugh. But the theater-goer in the epic theater says: I would never have thought that. You can't do that. That's very strange, practically unbelievable. That has to stop. The suffering of this or that person grips me because there is an escape for him. That's great art -- nothing is self-evident. I am made to laugh about those who cry, and cry about those who laugh.

BERTOLT BRECHT

On Theatre


Love is the desire to give, not to receive, something. Love is the art of producing something with the other's talents.

BERTOLT BRECHT

"Love of Whom?"