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Peter Weiss

Peter Weiss Quotes

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Famous Peter Weiss Quotes

“And the priests looked down into the pit of injustice and they turned their faces away and said, 'Our kingdom is not as the kingdom of this world. Our life on earth is but a pilgrimage. The soul lives on humility and patience,' at the same time screwing the poor from their last centime. They settled down among their treasures and ate and drank with princes and to the starving they said, 'Suffer. Suffer as he suffered on the cross for it is the will of God.' And anyone believes what they hear over and over again, so the poor instead of bread made do with a picture of the bleeding, scourged, and nailed-up Christ and prayed to that image of their helplessness. And the priests said, 'Raise your hands to heaven and bend your knees and bear your suffering without complaint. Pray for those that torture you, for prayer and blessing are the only stairways which you can climb to paradise.' And so they chained down the poor in their ignorance so that they wouldn't stand up and fight their bosses who ruled in the name of the lie of divine right.”

GodReligionSufferingHeavenChristClassPovertyPowerIgnoranceInjusticeHypocrisyManipulationDivine RightThe PoorThe Rich
Book:The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade
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“Once and for all the idea of glorious victories won by the glorious army must be wiped out Neither side is glorious On either side they're just frightened men messing their pants and they all want the same thing Not to lie under the earth but to walk upon it without crutches (Roux, act 1, scene 19)”

WarTheatre
Book:The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade
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“I could buy myself paper, a pen, a pencil and a brush and could create pictures whenever and wherever I wanted. ... That evening, in the spring of 1947, on the embankment of the Seine in Paris, at the age of thirty, I saw that it was possible to live and work in the world, and that I could participate in the exchange of ideas that was taking place all around, bound to no country.”

WorldIdeasCountryAgeWantedSawsPaperSpringBoundsEveningParisThirtyPensBrushesPencils
Book:Leavetaking: And , Vanishing Point
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“Don't soil your pretty little shoes The gutter's deep and red Climb up climb up and ride along with me the tumbrel driver said But she never said a word never turned her head Don't soil your pretty little pants I only go one way Climb up climb up and ride along with me There's no gold coach today But she never said a word never turned her head”

WayLittlesSaidTodayRedGoldShoesCoachesOne WaySoilClimbsDriversPantsGuttersYour Pretty
Book:Peter Weiss' The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat: As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade [a Play]
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“We're all so clogged with dead ideas passed from generation to generation that even the best of us don't know the way out We invented the Revolution but we don't know how to run it Look everyone wants to keep something from the past a souvenir of the old regime This man decides to keep a painting This one keeps his mistress He [ pointing ] keeps his garden He [ pointing ] keeps his estate He keeps his country house He keeps his factories This man couldn't part with his shipyards This one kept his army and that one keeps his king”

KnowsMenWayWantLooksIdeasCountryRunningPastHouseKnow HowGenerationsPaintingRevolutionKingsGardenArmyFactoriesRegimesEstatesPointingMistressSouvenirsCountry Houses
Author:Peter Weiss
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“Don't be deceived when our Revolution has been finally stamped out and they tell you things are better now Even if there's no poverty to be seen because the poverty's been hidden even if you ever got more wages and could afford to buy more of these new and useless goods which these new industries foist on you and even if it seems to you that you never had so much that is only the slogan of those who still have much more than you”

IfsHas BeensStillsSeemsPovertyRevolutionIndustryUselessGoodsWagesDeceivedSlogansBetter Now
Book:Marat/Sade ; The Investigation ; and The Shadow of the Body of the Coachman
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“What has gone wrong with the men who are ruling I'd like to know who they think they are fooling They told us that torture was over and gone but everyone knows the same torture goes on”

ThinkingKnowsMenGoneHe ManGoes OnTortureRuling
Book:Peter Weiss' The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat: As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade [a Play]
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“Long ago I abandoned my masterpiece a roll of paper thirty yards long which I filled completely with minute handwriting in my dungeon years ago It vanished when the Bastille fell it vanished as everything written everything thought and planned will disappear”

YearsLongWrittenMinutesPaperYears AgoFilledDisappearThirtyAbandonedLong AgoYardsMasterpieceDungeonsHandwritingBastille
Book:Marat/Sade ; The Investigation ; and The Shadow of the Body of the Coachman
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“Once and for all the idea of glorious victories won by the glorious army must be wiped out. Niether side is glorious. On either side they're just frightened men messing their pants and they all want the same thing - not to lie under theearth, but to walk upon it - without crutches.”

MenWantIdeasWarLyingSidesWalksMilitaryVictoryArmyGloriousFrightenedPantsCrutches
Book:Peter Weiss' The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat: As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade [a Play]
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“We're all so clogged with dead ideas passed from generation to generation that even the best of us don't know the way out.”

KnowsWayIdeasGenerations
Book:Peter Weiss' The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat: As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade [a Play]
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“Against Nature's silence I use action In the vast indifference I invent a meaning I don't watch unmoved I intervene and say that this and this are wrong and I work to alter them and improve them The important thing is to pull yourself up by your own hair to turn yourself inside out and see the whole world with fresh eyes”

WorldImportantWholeUseEyeActionTurnsSilenceWatchesHairImportant ThingsWhole WorldIndifference
Book:Peter Weiss' The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat: As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade [a Play]
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