Bertolt Brecht Quotes

I don't like where I'm going and I don't like where I've been. Why am I in a hurry?

...it is simplicity that is difficult to make.

The right to happiness is fundamental; men live so little time and die alone.

The fanatics for progress often have too little appreciation of the existing.

For the task assigned them Men aren't smart enough or sly Any rogue can blind them With a clever lie.

Who struggles can fail. Who doesn't struggle has already failed!

People are too durable, that's their main trouble. They can do too much to themselves, they last too long.

Today every invention is received with a cry of triumph which soon turns into a cry of fear.

Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral.

Things take indeed a wondrous turn When learned men do stoop to learn.

Temptation to behave is terrible.

When the leaders speak of peace, the common folk know war is coming.

The finest plans are always ruined by the littleness of those who ought to carry them out, for emperor himself can actually be nothing.

The finest plans have always been spoiled by the littleness of them that should carry them out. Even emperors can't do it all by themselves.

The more innocent they are, the more they deserve to be shot.

We often do not know ourselves the grounds On which we act, though plain to others.

Spring is noticed, if at all By people sitting in railway trains.

One must live well to know what living is.

The headlong stream is termed violent But the river bed hemming it in is Termed violent by no one.

It was never decreed that a god mustn't pay hotel bills.

First feed the face, then talk right and wrong.

For the villainy of the world is great, and a man has to run his legs off to keep them from being stolen out fom underneath him.

When the wound/ No longer hurts/ The scar does.

The righteous one has no sense of humor.

One cannot be arraigned for declaring a war, which every ruler has to do once in a while, but only for running a war badly.

Oh! Moon of Alabama We now must say good-bye We've lost our good old mama And must have whiskey Oh, you know why!

One forgets too easily the difference between a man and his image, and that there is none between the sound of his voice on the screen and in real life.

Even hatred of vileness Distorts a mans features.

There are a 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.

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

Who fights may lose, but who does not fight has lost already.

I don't know what a man is. Only that every man has his price.

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.

Fearful is the seductive power of goodness.

What's a joy to the one is a nightmare to the other.

He who speaks of enemies , himself is the enemy.

If you wan to steal money, don't rob a bank - open one.

It isn't important to come out on top, what matters is to be the one who comes out alive.

Righteous people have no sense of humor.

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

Impact lies in the vicinity of mistakes.

As regards obstacles, the shortest distance between two points can be a curve.

But something's missing.

With drooping shoulders The majority sit hunched, their foreheads furrowed like Stony ground that has been repeatedly ploughed-up to no purpose.

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

A good soldier has his heart and soul in it. When he receives an order, he gets a hard on, and when he drives his lance through his enemy's guts, he comes.

Great sport begins at a point where it has ceased to be healthy.

A theater without beer is just a museum

Sometimes it's more important to be human, than to have good taste.

Only bad generals need heroes.