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Bertolt Brecht Quotes about Art

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

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

Bertolt Brecht
Art, Reality, Mirrors

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

Bertolt Brecht
Art, Mean, Allies
Bertolt Brecht, John Willett (1964). “Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic”

All artforms are in the service of the greatest of all arts: the art of living.

Bertolt Brecht
Art, Art Of Living

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. Our audience must experience not only the ways to free Prometheus, but be schooled in the very desire to free him. Theater must teach all the pleasures and joys of discovery, all the feelings of triumph associated with liberation.

Bertolt Brecht
Art, Reality, Discovery
"Essays on the Art of Theater". Book by Bertolt Brecht, 1954.

Art is not a mirror. Art is a hammer.

Bertolt Brecht
Art, Mirrors, Hammers

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.

Bertolt Brecht
Art, War, Hands
"Brecht on Brecht: An Improvisation". Book by George Tabori, 1967.

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

Bertolt Brecht
Love, Art, Giving
Bertolt Brecht, Martin Chalmers (2001). “Stories of Mr. Keuner”, p.73, City Lights Books

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

Bertolt Brecht
Art, Mirrors, Special
"A Short Organum for the Theatre". Book by Bertolt Brecht, 1949.

Art and science coincide insofar as both aim to improve the lives of men and women. The latter normally concerns itself with profit, the former with pleasure. In the coming age, art will fashion our entertainment out of new means of productivity in ways that will simultaneously enhance our profit and maximize our pleasure.

Bertolt Brecht
Fashion, Art, Mean
"A Short Organum for the Theatre". Book by Bertolt Brecht, 1949.

Art and science work in quite different ways: agreed. But, bad as it may sound, I have to admit that I cannot get along as an artist without the use of one or two sciences. ... In my view, the great and complicated things that go on in the world cannot be adequately recognized by people who do not use every possible aid to understanding.

Bertolt Brecht
Art, Science, Views
Bertolt Brecht, John Willett (1964). “Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic”

The alienation effect in German epic theater is achieved not only through the actors, but also through music (chorus and song) andsets (transparencies, film strips, etc.). Its main purpose is to place the staged events in their historical context.

Bertolt Brecht
Song, Art, Epic

A good soldier has his heart and soul in it. When he receives an order, he gets a hard on, and when he drives his lance through his enemy's guts, he comes.

Bertolt Brecht
Art, Philosophy, Order
Bertolt Brecht (1983). “Two Plays by Bertolt Brecht”, Plume Books

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