Oh why do we not say the important things, it would be so easy, and we are damned because we do not.
BERTOLT BRECHTOnly bad generals need heroes.
More Bertolt Brecht Quotes
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When the leaders speak of peace, the common folk know war is coming.
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The fanatics for progress often have too little appreciation of the existing.
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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!
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We often do not know ourselves the grounds On which we act, though plain to others.
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There are times when you have to choose between being human and having good taste.
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Suppose they gave a war, and nobody came? Why then, the war would come to you!
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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.
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The fate of man is man.
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On thinking about Hell, I gather My brother Shelley found it was a place Much like the city of London.
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You don’t need to pray to God any more when there are storms in the sky, but you do have to be insured.
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Come in, dear wind, and be our guest You too have neither home nor rest.
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The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn When teachers themselves are taught to learn.
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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.
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For once you must try not to shirk the facts: mankind is kept alive by bestial acts.
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If you don’t have fun, you don’t have a show.
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Don’t be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.
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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.
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Don’t tell me peace has broken out.
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When the praying does no good, insurance does help.
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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.
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General, your bomber is powerful. It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant. But it has one defect: It needs a mechanic. General, man is very useful. He can fly and he can kill. But he has one defect: He can think.
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The righteous one has no sense of humor.
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If you join the rat race — you’re in the race of rats.
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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?
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I was called up in the war and sent to a hospital. I dressed wounds, applied iodine, gave enemas, did blood transfusions. If the doctor ordered: “Brecht, amputate a leg!”, I would reply, “Certainly, Your Excellency!”, and cut off the leg. If I was told, “Perform a trepanning!”
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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.
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