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Bertolt Brecht Quotes (104 quotes)
 | Source/Notes: Macheath, in Act 3, scene 3, p. 92 - The Threepenny Opera (1928) |
| Source/Notes: Happy End (1929) |
| “Andrea: Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero. Galileo: No, Andrea: Unhappy is the land that needs a hero.” ―Bertolt Brecht Source/Notes: Scene 12, p. 115 - Life of Galileo (1938) |
| Source/Notes: Andrea, in Scene 13, p. 122 - Life of Galileo (1938) |
| “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.” ―Bertolt Brecht Source/Notes: The Sergeant, in Scene 1 - Mother Courage and Her Children (1939) |
| “Show interest in her goodness — for no one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand.” ―Bertolt Brecht Source/Notes: First God, in Scene 1a, p. 38 - The Good Person of Sezuan (1943) |
| “Oh why do we not say the important things, it would be so easy, and we are damned because we do not.” ―Bertolt Brecht Source/Notes: Song about my mother [Lied von meiner Mutter], from Thirteen Psalms (1920), trans. Christopher Middleton in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 40 - 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 Source/Notes: To my mother [Meiner Mutter] (May 1920), trans. John Willett in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 49 - Poems, 1913-1956 (1976) |
| “Worship with fulness of heart the weak memory of heaven! It cannot trace Either your name or your face Nobody knows you're still living.” ―Bertolt Brecht Source/Notes: Great hymn of thanksgiving [Grosser Dankchoral] (1920) from The Devotions (1922-1927); trans. Karl Neumann in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 74 - Poems, 1913-1956 (1976) |
| “Oh the harsh snarl of guitar strings roaring! Heavenly distensions of our throats! Trousers stiff with dirt and love! Such whoring! Long green slimy nights: we were like stoats.” ―Bertolt Brecht Source/Notes: Those days of my youth [O, Ihr Zeiten meiner Jugend] (1921), trans. John Willett in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 76 - Poems, 1913-1956 (1976) |
| “On golden chairs Sitting at ease, you paid for the songs which we chanted To those less lucky. You paid us for drying their tears And for comforting all those whom you had wounded.” ―Bertolt Brecht Source/Notes: Song of the cut-price poets [Lied der preiswerten Lyriker] (1927/1933) from Songs Poems Choruses (1934); in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 161 - Poems, 1913-1956 (1976) |
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Picture Source: Wikimedia Commons
Bertolt Brecht
Born: February 10, 1898
Died: August 14, 1956 (aged 58)
Nationality: German
Occupation: Poet, playwright
Bio: Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.
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“Argument almost always leaves behind a sore feeling in the heart of the one who has been worsted. By loving teaching, by Christ-like living, we are to win this people for our Lord. They do not understand what disinterested love and unselfishness mean: you are to go and live it amont them.”
