Bertolt Brecht - The Threepenny Opera (1955)

18 Sourced Quotes

View all Bertolt Brecht Quotes
What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?

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
Though the rich of this earth find no difficulty in creating misery, they can't bear to see it.

Bertolt Brecht
The law is simply and solely made for the exploitation of those who do not understand it or of those who, for naked need, cannot obey it.

Bertolt Brecht
For the task assigned them
Men aren't smart enough or sly
Any rogue can blind them
With a clever lie.

Bertolt Brecht
What is the burgling of a bank to the founding of a bank?

Bertolt Brecht
From the cradle to the grave, underwear first, last and all the time.

Bertolt Brecht
You may proclaim, good sirs, your fine philosophy
But till you feed us, right and wrong can wait!

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 threepenny bit. And if he sees him a third time, he'll have him cold-bloodedly handed over to the police.

Bertolt Brecht
And the shark he has his teeth and
There they are for all to see
And Macheath he has his knife but
No one knows where it may be.

Bertolt Brecht
Then I will tell you something. I do not believe in it. Forty years among men has consistently taught me that they are not amenable to common sense. Show them the red tail of a comet, fill them with black terror, and they will all come running out of their houses and break their legs. But tell them one sensible proposition and support it with seven reasons, and they will simply laugh in your face

Bertolt Brecht
Go make yourself a plan And be a shining light. Then make yourself a second plan, For neither will come right.

Bertolt Brecht
The right to happiness is fundamental; men live so little time and die alone.

Bertolt Brecht
My business is too difficult. My business is trying to arouse human pity. There are few things that'll move people to pity, a few, but the trouble is when they've been used several times, they no longer work. So it happens, for instance, that a man who sees another man on the street corner with only a stump for an arm will be so shocked the first time that he'll give him sixpence. But the second time it'll only be a threepenny bit. And if he sees him a third time, he'll hand him over cold-bloodedly to the police.

Bertolt Brecht
For the villainy of the world is great, and a man has to run his legs off to keep them from being stolen out from underneath him.

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

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

Bertolt Brecht
Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear,
And he shows them pearly white.
Just a jack-knife has Macheath, dear
And he keeps it out of sight.

Bertolt Brecht