Bertolt Brecht

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

What's breaking into a bank compared with founding a bank?

— Bertolt Brecht

It is easier to rob by setting up a bank than by holding up a bank clerk.

— Bertolt Brecht

A man who sees another man on the street corner with only a stump for an arm will be so shocked the first time he'll give him sixpence. But the second time it'll only be a three penny bit. And if he sees him a third time, he'll have him cold-bloodedly handed over to the police.

— Bertolt Brecht

From the cradle to the coffin underwear comes first.

— Bertolt Brecht

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

— Bertolt Brecht

People remain what they are even if their faces fall apart.

— Bertolt Brecht

No one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand.

— Bertolt Brecht

Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes.

— Bertolt Brecht

You don't need to pray to God any more when there are storms in the sky, but you do have to be insured.

— Bertolt Brecht

Today every invention is received with a cry of triumph which soon turns into a cry of fear.

— Bertolt Brecht

The law was made for one thing alone, for the exploitation of those who don't understand it, or are prevented by naked misery from obeying it.

— Bertolt Brecht

There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two.

— Bertolt Brecht

Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.

— Bertolt Brecht

Society cannot share a common communication system so long as it is split into warring factions.

— Bertolt Brecht

What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?

— Bertolt Brecht

Don't tell me peace has broken out.

— Bertolt Brecht

Poverty makes you sad as well as wise.

— Bertolt Brecht

Literary works cannot be taken over like factories, or literary forms of expression like industrial methods. Realist writing, of which history offers many widely varying examples, is likewise conditioned by the question of how, when and for what class it is made use of.

— Bertolt Brecht

No one will improve your lot if you do not yourself.

— Bertolt Brecht

Right is its own defense.

— Bertolt Brecht

Science knows only one commandment -- contribute to science.

— Bertolt Brecht

For once you must try not to shirk the facts: mankind is kept alive by bestial acts.

— Bertolt Brecht

The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn when teachers themselves are taught to learn.

— Bertolt Brecht

We need a type of theatre which not only releases the feelings, insights and impulses possible within the particular historical field of human relations in which the action takes place, but employs and encourages those thoughts and feelings which help transform the field itself.

— Bertolt Brecht

War is like love, it always finds a way.

— Bertolt Brecht

Mixing one's wines may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably.

— Bertolt Brecht

Look, victory and defeat ain't bound to be same for the big shots up top as for them below, not by any means. Can be times the bottom lot find a defeat really pays them. Honour's lost, nowt else. . . . As a rule you can say victory and defeat both come expensive to us ordinary folk. Best thing for us is when politics get bogged down solid.

— Bertolt Brecht