Bertolt Brecht Quotes - Page 5

Go make yourself a plan And be a shining light. Then make yourself a second plan, For neither will come right.

Science knows only one commandment - contribute to science.

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.

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

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

There must always be some who are brighter and some who are stupider, the latter make up for it by being better workers.

Life is short and so is money.

General, man is very useful. He can fly and he can kill. But he has one defect: He can think.

A man who strains himself on the stage is bound, if he is any good, to strain all the people sitting in the stalls.

Love is the desire to give, not to receive, something. Love is the art of producing something with the other's talents.

I'm in good form, taking no interest in things, neglecting clothes, meals, company, and feeling calm and stable as I write.

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

Temptation to behave is terrible.

Poverty makes you sad as well as wise.

If art reflects life, it does so with special mirrors.

Young Alexander conquered India. He alone? Caesar beat the Gauls. Was there not even a cook in his army? Philip of Spain wept as his fleet was sunk and destroyed. Were there no other tears? Frederick the Great triumphed in the Seven Years War. Who Triumphed with him?

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.

From the start it has been the theatre's business to entertain people ... it needs no other passport than fun.

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

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 rain Never falls upwards. When the wound Stops hurting What hurts is The scar.

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

Of all the works of man I like best Those which have been used. The copper pots with their dents and flattened edges The knives and forks whose wooden handles Have been worn away by many hands: such forms Seemed to me the noblest.

Impact lies in the vicinity of mistakes.

I am a playwright. I show What I have seen. In the man markets I have seen how men are traded. That I show, I, the playwright.