Bertolt Brecht quotes - page 6

You know what the trouble with peace is? No organization. (Bertolt Brecht)
As crimes pile up, they become invisible. View quote
Bertolt Brecht
Let nothing be called natural In an age of bloody confusion. View quote
Bertolt Brecht
Even the most blockheaded bureaucrat, Provided he loves peace, Is a greater lover of the arts Than any so-called art-lover Who loves the arts of war. View quote
Bertolt Brecht
Art and science coincide insofar as both aim to improve the lives of men and women. View quote
Bertolt Brecht
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. View quote
Bertolt Brecht
That's great art - Everything is self-evident. I am made to cry with those who cry, and laugh with those who laugh. View quote
Bertolt Brecht
"About the Seduction of an Angel" [Über die Verführung von Engeln]; the poem actually stems from Brecht's own pen, but Brecht signed it with the name of his contemporary, fellow German author (in exile) Thomas Mann. View quote
Bertolt Brecht
All that is left is your scar, no doubt the least valuable of your distinguishing marks. Today you frequent nothing but prison cells, and within the foreseeable future no place at all ... View quote
Bertolt Brecht
Firebugs dragging their gasoline bottles Are approaching the Academy of Arts, with a grin. And so, instead of embracing them, Let us demand the freedom of the elbow To knock the bottles out of their filthy hands. Even the most blockheaded bureaucrat, Provided he loves peace, Is a greater lover of the arts Than any so-called art-lover Who loves the arts of war. View quote
Bertolt Brecht
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. (Bertolt Brecht)
Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear And he shows them pearly white Just a jackknife has Macheath, dear And he keeps it out of sight. View quote
Bertolt Brecht
But something's missing (Aber etwas fehlt). View quote
Bertolt Brecht
Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. (Weil die Dinge sind, wie sie sind, werden die Dinge nicht so bleiben wie sie sind.) View quote
Bertolt Brecht
Food first, then morality. View quote
Bertolt Brecht
Unless an actor is satisfied to be a parrot or a monkey he must master our period's knowledge of human social life by himself joining the war of the classes. Some people may feel this is degrading, because they rank art, once the money side has been settled, as one of the highest things; but mankind's highest decisions are in fact fought out on earth, not in the heavens; in the 'external world', not inside people's heads. Nobody can stand above the warring classes, for nobody can stand above the human race. Society cannot share a common communication system so long as it is split into warring classes. Thus for art to be 'unpolitical' means only to ally itself with the 'ruling' group. View quote
Bertolt Brecht
Oh the harsh snarl of guitar strings roaring! Heavenly distensions of our throats! Trousers stiff with dirt and love! Such whoring! Long green slimy nights: we were like stoats. View quote
Bertolt Brecht