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Quotes from Poems, 1913-1956 — Bertolt Brecht

1898–1956 Germany

← All quotes by Bertolt Brecht

28 quotes

Oh why do we not say the important things, it would be so easy, and we are damned because we do not.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

Spring is noticed, if at all
By people sitting in railway trains.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

Come in, dear wind, and be our guest
You too have neither home nor rest.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

Little changes are the enemies of great changes.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

The headlong stream is termed violent
But the river bed hemming it in is
Termed violent by no one.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

Their peace and their war
Are like wind and storm.War grows from their peace.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

The man who laughs has simply not yet had the terrible news.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

With drooping shoulders
The majority sit hunched, their foreheads furrowed like
Stony ground that has been repeatedly ploughed-up to no purpose.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

Worship with fulness of heart the weak memory of heaven!
It cannot trace
Either your name or your face
Nobody knows you're still living.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing
About the dark times.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

General, your tank
is a powerful vehicle
it smashes down forests
and crushes a hundred men.
but it has one defect:
it needs a driver.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

Every day, to earn my daily bread
I go to the market where lies are bought
Hopefully
I take up my place among the sellers.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

How long
Do works endure? As long
As they are not completed.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

The plum tree in the yard's so small
It's hardly like a tree at all.
Yet there it is, railed round
To keep it safe and sound.The poor thing can't grow any more
Though if it could it would for sure.
There's nothing to be done
It gets too little sun.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

All the gang of those who rule us
Hope our quarrels never stop
Helping them to split and fool us
So they can remain on top.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

Events cast long shadows before.
One such event would be a war.
But how are shadows to be seen
When total darkness fills the screen?

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

High above the lake a bomber flies.
From the rowing boats
Children look up, women, an old man. From a distance
They appear like young starlings, their beaks
Wide open for food.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

The rain
Never falls upwards.
When the wound
Stops hurting
What hurts is
The scar.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out "stop!"When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer.

Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Bertolt Brecht (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.