Bertolt Brecht: Trending quotes

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Bertolt Brecht: 204 quotes16 likes

“People will observe you to see
How well you have observed.
The man who only observes himself however never gains
Knowledge of men. He is too anxious
To hide himself from himself. And nobody is
Cleverer than he himself is.”

Bertolt Brecht

"Speech to Danish working-class actors on the art of observation" [Rede an dänische Arbeiterschauspieler über die Kunst der Beobachtung] (1934), from The Messingkauf Poems, published in Versuche 14 (1955); trans. John Willett in Poems, 1913-1956, pp. 235-236
Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

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

Bertolt Brecht

"Concerning spring" [Über das Frühjahr] (1928), Uhu, Berlin, IV, 6 (March 1928); trans. Christopher Middleton in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 158
Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

“And when she was finished they laid her in earth
Flowers growing, butterflies juggling over her…
She, so light, barely pressed the earth down
How much pain it took to make her as light as that!”

Bertolt Brecht

"To my mother" [Meiner Mutter] (May 1920), trans. John Willett in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 49
Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

“Science has only one commandment: contribution.”

Bertolt Brecht book Life of Galileo

Andrea, in Scene 13, p. 122
As translated by Howard Brenton (1980)
Life of Galileo (1939)
Variant: Science knows only one commandment — contribute to science.

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

Bertolt Brecht

Garga, in In the Jungle of Cities [Im Dickicht der Städte] (1923) , sc. 9; also translated as In the Swamp and Jungle of Cities.

“"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”

Bertolt Brecht

As cited in Gregory Alexander Knott, Arnold Stadler: Heimat and Metaphysics http://books.google.gr/books?id=ylhXAAAAYAAJ&q=, Weidler Buchverlag, 2009, p. 30.

“The main objective is to learn to think crudely. Crude thinking is the great one’s thinking.”

Bertolt Brecht book Threepenny Novel

Dreigroschenroman (1934), reprinted in Gesammelte Werke, vol. 13 (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1967), 916.

“The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn
When teachers themselves are taught to learn.”

Bertolt Brecht book Life of Galileo

Scene 6
Life of Galileo (1939)

“The plum tree in the yard's so small
It's hardly like a tree at all.
Yet there it is, railed round
To keep it safe and sound.The poor thing can't grow any more
Though if it could it would for sure.
There's nothing to be done
It gets too little sun.”

Bertolt Brecht

"The Plum Tree" [Der Pfaumenbaum] (1934) from The Svendborg Poems [Svendborger Gedichte] (1939); in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 243
Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

“Events cast long shadows before.
One such event would be a war.
But how are shadows to be seen
When total darkness fills the screen?”

Bertolt Brecht

"Alphabet" [Alfabet] from "Five Children's Songs" (1934), trans. John Willett in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 239
Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

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

Bertolt Brecht

"Speech to Danish working-class actors on the art of observation" [Rede an dänische Arbeiterschauspieler über die Kunst der Beobachtung]] (1934), from The Messingkauf Poems, published in Versuche 14 (1955); trans. John Willett in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 235
Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

“If you fight you might lose, if you don’t you have already lost.”

Bertolt Brecht

Disputed

“Here today we huddle tight
As the darkest heathens might
The snow falls chilly on our skin
The snow is forcing its way in.
Hush, snow, come in with us to dwell:
We were thrown out by Heaven as well.”

Bertolt Brecht

"Christmas legend" [Weinachtslegende] (1923), Berliner Börsen-Courier (25 December 1924); trans. in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 99
Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

“I see with sympathy
The swollen veins on his brow, showing
How exhausting it is to be evil.”

Bertolt Brecht

Mitfühlend sehe ich
Die geschwollenen Stirnadern, andeutend
Wie anstrengend es ist, böse zu sein.
"The Mask of Evil" ("Die Maske des Bösen"), as translated in Brecht on Brecht: An Improvisation (1967) by George Tabori, p. 14

“War is like love, it always finds a way.”

Bertolt Brecht

The Chaplain, in Scene 6, p. 76
Mother Courage and Her Children (1939)

“Those who lead the country into the abyss
Call ruling too difficult
For ordinary men.”

Bertolt Brecht

"From a German War Primer"

“Do not treat me in this fashion. Don't leave me out. Have I not
Always spoken the truth in my books? And now
You treat me like a liar! I order you:
Burn me!”

Bertolt Brecht

A response to the Nazi book burnings, "The Burning of the Books"

“Always the victor writes the history of the vanquished. He who beats distorts the faces of the beaten. The weaker depart from this world and the lies remain.”

Bertolt Brecht book The Trial of Lucullus

The Trial of Lucullus (1940), Brecht Collected Plays, vol. 4, p. 386.