Quotes from work
The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera, and four ballads by François Villon, with music by Kurt Weill. Although there is debate as to how much, if any, Hauptmann might have contributed to the text, Brecht is usually listed as sole author.The work offers a socialist critique of the capitalist world. It opened on 31 August 1928 at Berlin's Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.

“What is the burgling of a bank to the founding of a bank?”

Bertolt Brecht The Threepenny Opera

Macheath, in Act 3, scene 3, p. 92
The Threepenny Opera (1928)

“My business is too difficult. My business is trying to arouse human pity. There are 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. So it happens, for instance, that a man who sees another man on the street corner with only a stump for an arm will be so shocked the first time that he'll give him sixpence. But the second time it'll only be a threepenny bit. And if he sees him a third time, he'll hand him over cold-bloodedly to the police.”

Bertolt Brecht The Threepenny Opera

Peachum in Act 1, scene 1, pp. 5-6
The Threepenny Opera (1928)

“For once you must try not to shirk the facts:
Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts.”

Bertolt Brecht The Threepenny Opera

"What Keeps Mankind Alive?" Act 2, sc. 6
The Threepenny Opera (1928)

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

Bertolt Brecht The Threepenny Opera

Polly Peachum, in "The Song of the Futility of All Human Endeavor"; Act 3, scene 1, p. 75
The Threepenny Opera (1928)

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

Bertolt Brecht The Threepenny Opera

Macheath in "Second Threepenny-Finale"; Act 2, scene 3, p. 67
Variant translations:
However much you twist, whatever lies you tell
Food is the first thing, morals follow on.
Used by the Pet Shop Boys, in "What Keeps Mankind Alive?", Can You Forgive Her (1993 EP)
Food first, then morality.
The Threepenny Opera (1928)

“The law is simply and solely made for the exploitation of those who do not understand it or of those who, for naked need, cannot obey it.”

Bertolt Brecht The Threepenny Opera

Polly Peachum, in Act 3, scene 1, p. 74
Variant translation: The law was made for one thing alone, for the exploitation of those who don't understand it, or are prevented by naked misery from obeying it.
The Threepenny Opera (1928)

“First comes a full stomach, then comes ethics.”

Bertolt Brecht The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera (1928)

“And the shark he has his teeth and
There they are for all to see
And Macheath he has his knife but
No one knows where it may be.”

Bertolt Brecht The Threepenny Opera

"The Moritat of Mackie the Knife" in Prologue, p. 3
Translation note: A "moritat" (a word meaning both "muderous deed" and "ballad") is a street song telling of murderous crimes.
Lotte Lenya, "Foreword", p. xii
Variant translation: Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear,
And he shows them pearly white
Just a jack-knife has Macheath dear
And he keeps it out of sight.
Marc Blitzstein translation; largely used for Louis Armstrong's and Bobby Darin's pop renditions of "The Ballad of Mack the Knife"
The Threepenny Opera (1928)

“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 …”

Bertolt Brecht The Threepenny Opera

Source: The Threepenny Opera