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Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht Quotes

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Famous Bertolt Brecht Quotes

“And I did work out something: that the rich of the earth indeed create misery, but they cannot bear to see it. They are weaklings and fools just like you. As long as they have enough to eat and can grease their floors with butter so that even the crumbs that fall from your table grow fat, they can't look with indifference on a man collapsing from hunger - although, of course, it must be in front of their house that he collapses.”

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Book:The Threepenny Opera
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“Ah, we've had so many masters, Swine or eagle, lean or fat one: Some were tiers, some hyenas, Still we fed this one and that one. Whether one is better than the other: Ah, one boot is always like another When it treads upon you. What I say about them Is we need no other masters: we can do without them! Yes, the wheel is always turning madly, Neither side stays up or down, But the water underneath fares badly For it has to make the wheel go round. (Ach, wir hatten viele Herren Hatten Tiger und Hyänen Hatten Adler, hatten Schweine Doch wir nährten den und jenen. Ob sie besser waren oder schlimmer: Ach, der Stiefel glich dem Stiefel immer Und uns trat er. Ihr versteht, ich meine Dass wir keine andern Herren brauchen, sondern keine! Freilich dreht das Rad sich immer weiter Dass, was oben ist, nicht oben bleibt. Aber für das Wasser unten heisst das leider NurL dass es das Rad halt ewig treibt.)”

PoetryWorkPowerProgressCollectivismGermanBrecht
Book:Selected Poems: The Influential 20th Century German Poet's Accessible Bilingual Collection for Modern Readers
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“Natürlich muss die Wahrheit im Kampf mit der Unwahrheit geschrieben werden und sie darf nicht etwas Allgemeines, Hohes, Vieldeutiges sein. Von dieser allgemeinen, hohen, vieldeutigen Art ist ja gerade die Unwahrheit. Wenn von einem gesagt wird, er hat die Wahrheit gesagt, so haben zunächst einige oder viele oder einer etwas anderes gesagt, eine Lüge oder etwas Allgemeines, aber er hat die Wahrheit gesagt, etwas Praktisches, Tatsächliches, Unleugbares, das, um was es sich handelte.”

TruthDie Wahrheit
Author:Bertolt Brecht
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“Ah, we've had so many masters, Swine or eagle, lean or fat one: Some were tiers, some hyenas, Still we fed this one and that one. Whether one is better than the other: Ah, one boot is always like another When it treads upon you. What I say about them Is we need no other masters: we can do without them! Yes, the wheel is always turning madly, Neither side stays up or down, But the water underneath fares badly For it has to make the wheel go round. (Ach, wir hatten viele Herren Hatten Tiger und Hyänen Hatten Adler, hatten Schweine Doch wir nährten den und jenen. Ob sie besser waren oder schlimmer: Ach, der Stiefel glich dem Stiefel immer Und uns trat er. Ihr versteht, ich meine Dass wir keine andern Herren brauchen, sondern keine! Freilich dreht das Rad sich immer weiter Dass, was oben ist, nicht oben bleibt. Aber für das Wasser unten heisst das leider Nur dass es das Rad halt ewig treibt.)”

PowerStruggleProgressTeamworkCollectivismGermanBrecht
Book:Selected Poems: The Influential 20th Century German Poet's Accessible Bilingual Collection for Modern Readers
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“Those Who Take the Meat from the Table Teach Contentment. Those for whom the taxes are destined Demand sacrifice. Those who eat their fill speak to the hungry Of wonderful times to come. Those who lead the country into the abyss Call ruling too difficult For ordinary men. (Die das Fleisch wegnehmen vom Tisch Lehren Zufriedenheit. Die, für die die Gabe bestimmt ist Verlangen Opfermut. Die Sattgefressenen sprechen zu den Hungernden Von den grossen Zeiten, die kommen werden. Die das Reich in den Abgrund führen Nennen das Regieren zu schwer Für den einfachen Mann.)”

PowerHypocrisyManipulationGermanBrecht
Book:Selected Poems: The Influential 20th Century German Poet's Accessible Bilingual Collection for Modern Readers
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“I take it that the intent of science is to ease human existence. If you give way to coercion, science can be crippled, and your new machines may simply suggest new drudgeries. Should you, then, in time, discover all there is to be discovered, your progress must become a progress away from the bulk of humanity. The gulf might even grow so wide that the sound of your cheering at some new achievement would be echoed by a universal howl of horror.”

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Book:Galileo
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“When the Regime commanded the unlawful books to be burned, teams of dull oxen hauled huge cartloads to the bonfires. Then a banished writer, one of the best, scanning the list of excommunicated texts, became enraged: he'd been excluded! He rushed to his desk, full of contemptuous wrath, to write fierce letters to the morons in power — Burn me! he wrote with his blazing pen — Haven't I always reported the truth? Now here you are, treating me like a liar! Burn me!”

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Author:Bertolt Brecht
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“Non credo che la pratica della scienza possa andar disgiunta dal coraggio. Essa tratta il sapere, che è un pro¬dotto del dubbio; e col procacciare sapere a tutti su ogni cosa, tende a destare il dubbio in tutti. […] I moti dei corpi celesti ci sono divenuti più chiari; ma i moti dei potenti restano pur sempre imperscruta-¬bili ai popoli. […] Finché l'umanità continuerà a brancolare nella sua nebbia millenaria di superstizioni e di venerande sentenze, finché sarà troppo ignorante per sviluppare le sue proprie energie, non sarà nemmeno capace di svilup¬pare le energie della natura che le vengono svelate. […] Se gli uomini di scienza non reagiscono all'intimidazione dei potenti egoisti e si li¬mitano ad accumulare sapere per sapere, la scienza può rimanere fiaccata per sempre, ed ogni nuova macchina non sarà fonte che di nuovi triboli per l'uomo. E quan¬do, coll'andar del tempo, avrete scoperto tutto lo scopribile, il vostro progresso non sarà che un progressivo allontanamento dall'umanità. Tra voi e l'umanità può scavarsi un abisso così grande, che ad ogni vostro eureka rischierebbe di rispondere un grido di dolore universa¬le... […] Se io avessi resistito, i naturalisti avrebbero po¬tuto sviluppare qualcosa di simile a ciò che per i medici è il giuramento d'Ippocrate: il voto solenne di far uso della scienza ad esclusivo vantaggio dell'umanità. Così stando le cose, il massimo in cui si può sperare è una progenie di gnomi inventivi, pronti a farsi assoldare per qualsiasi scopo. […] Per alcuni anni ebbi la forza di una pubblica autorità; e misi la mia sapienza a disposizione dei potenti perché la usassero, o non la usassero, o ne abusassero, a seconda dei loro fini.. Ho tradito la mia professione; e quando un uomo ha fatto ciò che ho fatto io, la sua presenza non può es-sere tollerata nei ranghi della scienza”

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Book:Galileo
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“Anmut sparet nicht noch Mühe, Leidenschaft nicht noch Verstand, daß ein gutes Deutschland blühe, wie ein andres gutes Land. Daß die Völker nicht erbleichen wie vor einer Räuberin, sondern ihre Hände reichen uns wie andern Völkern hin. Und nicht über und nicht unter andern Völkern wolln wir sein, von der See bis zu den Alpen, von der Oder bis zum Rhein. Und weil wir dies Land verbessern, lieben und beschirmen wir’s. Und das liebste mag’s uns scheinen so wie andern Völkern ihrs.”

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Author:Bertolt Brecht
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