"There is a wonderful sentence, a statement, by one of Bertolt Brecht's characters, he says: "I am that man that goes around with a brick in his hand, to show the world how his house was." And that's the way I feel about my books in a way, that they are my bricks. I can show people what I believe my world was, so I've not lost it."

"What if they gave a war and no one came? Then the war will come to you."

"If you fight you might lose, if you don’t you have already lost."

"The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies."

"Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it."

"And I always thought: the very simplest words Must be enough. When I say what things are like Everyone's heart must be torn to shreds. That you'll go down if you don't stand up for yourself Surely you see that."

"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."

"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."

"This is the year which people will talk about This is the year which people will be silent about.The old see the young die. The foolish see the wise die.The earth no longer produces, it devours. The sky hurls down no rain, only iron."

"In den finsteren Zeiten Wird da auch gesungen werden? Da wird auch gesungen werden. Von den finsteren Zeiten."

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

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

"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."

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

"Little changes are the enemies of great changes."

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

"Who built Thebes of the 7 gates ? In the books you will read the names of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock ?And Babylon, many times demolished, Who raised it up so many times ?In what houses of gold glittering Lima did its builders live ? Where, the evening that the Great Wall of China was finished, did the masons go?Great Rome is full of triumphal arches. Who erected them?Over whom did the Caesars triumph?Had Byzantium, much praised in song, only palaces for its inhabitants ?Even in fabled Atlantis, the night that the ocean engulfed it, The drowning still cried out for their slaves.The young Alexander conquered India. Was he alone?Caesar beat the Gauls. Did he not even have a cook with him?Philip of Spain wept when his armada went down. Was he the only one to weep?Frederick the Second won the Seven Years' War. Who else won it?Every page a victory. Who cooked the feast for the victors?Every ten years a great man. Who paid the bill?So many reports.So many questions."

"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."

"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."

"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?"

"Art and science coincide insofar as both aim to improve the lives of men and women. The latter normally concerns itself with profit, the former with pleasure. In the coming age, art will fashion our entertainment out of new means of productivity in ways that will simultaneously enhance our profit and maximize our pleasure."

"If art reflects life, it does so with special mirrors."

"Will der Schauspieler nicht Papagei oder Affe sein, muß er sich das Wissen der Zeit über das menschliche Zusammenleben aneignen, indem er die Kämpfe der Klassen mitkämpft. Dies mag manchem wie eine Erniedrigung vorkommen, da er die Kunst, ist die Bezahlung geregelt, in die höchsten Sphären versetzt; aber die höchsten Entscheidungen für das Menschengeschlecht werden auf der Erde ausgekämpft, nicht in den Lüften; im »Äußern«, nicht in den Köpfen. Über den kämpfenden Klassen kann niemand stehen, da niemand über den Menschen stehen kann. Die Gesellschaft hat kein gemeinsames Sprachrohr, solange sie in kämpfende Klassen gespalten ist. So heißt unparteiisch sein für die Kunst nur: zur herrschenden Partei gehören."

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

"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."

"Bezeig du Interesse an ihrer Güte, denn keiner kann lang gut sein, wenn nicht Güte verlangt wird."

"Sometimes I have visions of myself driving through hell, selling sulphur and brimstone, or through heaven peddling refreshments to the roaming souls. If me and the children I've got left could find a place where there's no shooting, I wouldn't mind a few years of peace and quiet."

"War is like love, it always finds a way."

"Komm, geh mit angeln, sagte der Fischer zum Wurm."

"What they could do with round here is a good war. What else can you expect with peace running wild all over the place? You know what the trouble with peace is? No organization."

"The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set some limit on infinite error."

"Science has only one commandment: contribution."

"Andrea: Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero. Galileo: No, Andrea: Unhappy is the land that needs a hero. [Unglücklich das Land, das Helden nötig hat.]"

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

"Some party hack decreed that the people had lost the government's confidence and could only regain it with redoubled effort. If that is the case, would it not be simpler, If the government simply dissolved the people And elected another?"

"The more innocent they are, the more they deserve to be shot."

"It is not enough to demand insight and informative images of reality from the theater. Our theater must stimulate a desire for understanding, a delight in changing reality. Our audience must experience not only the ways to free Prometheus, but be schooled in the very desire to free him. Theater must teach all the pleasures and joys of discovery, all the feelings of triumph associated with liberation."

"Mitfühlend sehe ich Die geschwollenen Stirnadern, andeutend Wie anstrengend es ist, böse zu sein."

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

"To live means to finesse the processes to which one is subjugated."

"Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again."

"Always the victor writes the history of the vanquished. He who beats distorts the faces of the beaten. The weaker depart from this world and the lies remain."

"Ah, what an age it is When to speak of trees is almost a crime For it is a kind of silence about injustice!"

"Those who are weak don't fight. Those who are stronger might fight for an hour. Those who are stronger still might fight for many years. The strongest fight their whole life. They are the indispensable ones."

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

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

"Mr. Wurlitzer, I am now in a position to receive your organ."

"What is the burgling of a bank to the founding of a bank?"

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

"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."