black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

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

Bertolt Brecht

People who understand everything get no stories.
BERTOLT BRECHT

People Stories Understand
Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Book Men Weapons
The defeats and victories of the fellows at the top aren’t always defeats and victories for the fellows at the bottom.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Defeat Sunset Victory
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.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Fall Rain Summer
Nowadays, anyone who wishes to combat lies and ignorance and to write the truth must overcome at least five difficulties.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Lying Running Writing
Love is also like a coconut which is good while it is fresh, but you have to spit it out when the juice is gone, what’s left tastes bitter.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Gone Love Sad Taste
When the wound/ No longer hurts/ The scar does.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Doe Hurt Scar
People cannot remain good unless good is expected of them.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Expected Good People Remain
Spring is noticed, if at all By people sitting in railway trains.
BERTOLT BRECHT

People Sitting Spring
Oh! Moon of Alabama We now must say good-bye We’ve lost our good old mama And must have whiskey Oh, you know why!
BERTOLT BRECHT

Alabama Bye Moon
The more innocent they are, the more they deserve to be shot.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Deserve Innocent Shots
Bank robbery is an initiative of amateurs. True professionals establish a bank.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Bank Initiative Robbery
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

Even Greater Love Lover Peace Provided War
Those who have had no share in the good fortunes of the mighty Often have a share in their misfortunes.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Fortune Good Mighty Share
What kind of times are they, when A talk about trees is almost a crime Because it implies silence about so many horrors?
BERTOLT BRECHT

Kind Silence Tree
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.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Become Doing Evil Invisible Suffering
For art to be ‘unpolitical’ means only to ally itself with the ‘ruling’ group.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Allies Art Mean
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.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Art Discovery Reality
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

Adequately Great Recognized Understanding
Would it not be simpler If the Government dissolved the people and elected another?
BERTOLT BRECHT

Another Government People
Terrible is the temptation to be good.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Be Good Temptation Terrible
Who does Not Know the Truth, is simply a Fool… Yet who Knows the Truth and Calls it a Lie, is a Criminal.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Criminals Doe Lying
If you don’t have fun, you don’t have a show.
BERTOLT BRECHT

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

Acting Men People
To live means to finesse the processes to which one is subjugated.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Finesse Mean Process
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

Art Epic Film History Purpose Song
He who fights, can lose. He who doesn’t fight, has already lost.
BERTOLT BRECHT

Fighting Loses Lost

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

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Bertolt Brecht Quotes