Quotes by Bertolt Brecht

• Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.
• People remain what they are even if their faces fall apart.
• It's all right to hesitate if you then go ahead.
• Mixing one's wines may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably.
• No one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand.
• No one will improve your lot if you do not yourself.
• One forgets too easily the difference between a man and his image, and that there is none between the sound of his voice on the screen and in real life.
• Grub first, then ethics.
• People are too durable, that's their main trouble. They can do too much to themselves, they last too long.
• Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.
• He who laughs has not yet heard the bad news.
• Do not fear death so much but rather the inadequate life.
• Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.
• Don't tell me peace has broken out.
• Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels.
• Everyone needs help from everyone.
• From the cradle to the coffin underwear comes first.
• Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.
• What a miserable thing life is: you're living in clover, only the clover isn't good enough.
• There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two.
• Poverty makes you wise but it's a curse.
• Right is its own defense.
• Poverty makes you sad as well as wise.
• Science knows only one commandment - contribute to science.
• Society cannot share a common communication system so long as it is split into warring factions.
• Sometimes it's more important to be human, than to have good taste.
• Temptation to behave is terrible.
• The defeats and victories of the fellows at the top aren't always defeats and victories for the fellows at the bottom.
• The finest plans have always been spoiled by the littleness of them that should carry them out. Even emperors can't do it all by themselves.
• What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?
• The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn when teachers themselves are taught to learn.
• You don't need to pray to God any more when there are storms in the sky, but you do have to be insured.
• To live means to finesse the processes to which one is subjugated.
• Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes.
• War is like love; it always finds a way.
• What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
• What's breaking into a bank compared with founding a bank?
• Whenever there are great virtues, it's a sure sign something's wrong.
• Why be a man when you can be a success?
• 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.