Top 203 Quotes & Sayings by Bertolt Brecht

There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two.

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.

Society cannot share a common communication system so long as it is split into warring factions.

The defeats and victories of the fellows at the top aren't always defeats and victories for the fellows at the bottom.

Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.

Right is its own defense.

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

Poverty makes you wise but it's a curse.

What's breaking into a bank compared with founding a bank?

No one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand.

Why be a man when you can be a success?

From the cradle to the coffin underwear comes first.

No one will improve your lot if you do not yourself.

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.

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.

Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.

Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels.

War is like love; it always finds a way.

What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?

Don't tell me peace has broken out.

What a miserable thing life is: you're living in clover, only the clover isn't good enough.

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

It's all right to hesitate if you then go ahead.

It is easier to rob by setting up a bank than by holding up a bank clerk.

The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn when teachers themselves are taught to learn.

Whenever there are great virtues, it's a sure sign something's wrong.

Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.

Poverty makes you sad as well as wise.

Everyone needs help from everyone.

Grub first, then ethics.

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

Science knows only one commandment - contribute to science.

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

Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes.

Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.

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

What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?

Temptation to behave is terrible.

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

You don't need to pray to God any more when there are storms in the sky, but you do have to be insured.

He who laughs has not yet heard the bad news.

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.

If you don't have fun, you don't have a show.

Don't expect the theatre to satisfy the habits of its audience, but to change them.

The first time it was reported that our friends were being butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. But when a thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of silence spread. When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out "stop!" 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.

It is not enough to demand insight and informative images of reality from the theater. Our theater must stimulate a desire for understanding, a delight in changing reality.

Don’t accept the habitual as a natural thing. In times of disorder, of organized confusion, of de-humanized humanity, nothing should seem natural. Nothing should seem impossible to change.

Some party hack decreed that the people had lost the government's confidence and could only regain it with redoubled effort. If that is the case, would it not be simpler, If the government simply dissolved the people And elected another?

Nowadays, anyone who wishes to combat lies and ignorance and to write the truth must overcome at least five difficulties. He must have the courage to write the truth when truth is everywhere opposed; the keenness to recognize it, although it is everywhere concealed; the skill to manipulate it as a weapon; the judgment to select those in whose hands it will be effective; and the running to spread the truth among such persons.

There are men who struggle for a day and they are good. There are men who struggle for a year and they are better. There are men who struggle many years, and they are better still. But there are those who struggle all their lives: These are the indispensable ones.

For art to be 'unpolitical' means only to ally itself with the 'ruling' group.

Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.

Those against politics are in favor of the politics inflicted upon them.

Writers can't write as fast as governments make wars; because to write demands thinking.

Who does Not Know the Truth, is simply a Fool... Yet who Knows the Truth and Calls it a Lie, is a Criminal.

He who fights, can lose. He who doesn't fight, has already lost.

Bank robbery is an initiative of amateurs. True professionals establish a bank.

To those who does not know the world is on fire, I have nothing to say.

The worst illiterate is the political illiterate. He hears nothing, sees nothing, takes no part in political life. He doesn't seem to know that the cost of living, the price of beans, of flour, of rent, of medicines all depend on political decisions. He even prides himself on his political ignorance, sticks out his chest and says he hates politics. He doesn't know, the imbecile, that from his political non-participation comes the prostitute, the abandoned child, the robber and, worst of all, corrupt officials, the lackeys of exploitative multinational corporations.

In the dark times Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.