Bertolt Brecht

My young son asks me: Must I learn mathematics? What is the use, I feel like saying. That two pieces Of bread are more than one's about all you'll end up with.

Who built the seven gates of Thebes? The books are filled with names of kings. Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?

Show me the way to the next whiskey bar Oh, don't ask why, oh, don't ask why Show me the way to the next whiskey bar

Contemplating Hell, as I once heard it, My brother Shelley found it to be a place Much like the city of London. I,

[Original] 'Aprende las cosas elementarias! 'Para aquellos a quienes les ha llegado la hora nunca es demasadio tarde!

AMONGST THE HIGHLY PLACED It is considered low to talk about food. The fact is:    they have

From the play "Mother Courage" You saw sagacious Solomon You know what came of him,

I never loved you more, ma soeur Than as I walked away from you that evening. The forest swallowed me, the blue forest, ma soeur

I want to go with the one I love. I do not want to calculate the cost. I do not want to think about whether it's good.

[Original Poem] Ich will mit dem gehen, den ich liebe. Ich will nicht ausrechnen, was es kostet.

Timur, I hear, took the trouble to conquer the earth. I don't understand him. With a bit of hard liquor you can forget the earth.

[Original Poem] Ich habe dich nie je so geliebt, ma soeur Als wie ich fortging von dir in jenem Abendrot.

Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear And he shows them pearly white. Just a jack knife has Macheath, dear

My young son asks me: Must I learn mathematics? What is the use, I feel like saying. That two pieces Of bread are more than one's about all you'll end up with.

When the Academy of Arts demanded freedom Of artistic expression from narrow-minded bureaucrats There was a howl and a clamour in its immediate vicinity

Let others speak of her shame, I speak of my own. O Germany, pale mother!

After the wailing had already begun along the walls, their ruin certain, the Trojans fidgeted with bits of wood

The critical attitude Strikes many people as unfruitful That is because they find the state

We embrace. Rich cloth under my fingers While yours touch poor fabric.

Who built Thebes of the seven gates? In the books you will find the names of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?

You little box, held to me escaping So that your valves should not break Carried from house to house to ship from sail to train,

Send me a leaf, but from a bush That grows at least one half hour Away from your house, then

Peoples of the world, together Join to serve the common cause! So it feeds us all for ever

On my wall hangs a Japanese carving, The mask of an evil demon, decorated with gold lacquer. Sympathetically I observe

After the uprising of the 17th June The Secretary of the Writers Union Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee

My love Has told me That he needs me.

1. Indeed I live in the dark ages! A guileless word is an absurdity. A smooth forehead betokens

[Original Poem] Morgens und abends zu lesen Der, den ich liebe

So there you sit. And how much blood was shed That you might sit there. Do such stories bore you? Well, don't forget that others sat before you

I To the cities I came in a time of disorder That was ruled by hunger.

And because a man is human He'll want to eat, and thanks a lot But talk can't take the place of meat

The industrialist is having his aeroplane serviced. The priest is wondering what he said in his sermon eight weeks ago about tithes. The generals are putting on civvies and looking like bank clerks.