Peter Weiss Quotes

Against Nature's silence I use action
In the vast indifference I invent a meaning
I don't watch unmoved I intervene
and say that this and this are wrong
and I work to alter them and improve them
The important thing
is to pull yourself up by your own hair
to turn yourself inside out
and see the whole world with fresh eyes

Like Bretonne, Sue stood on the side of the poorest, despised art that allowed itself to be exploited by the ruling classes, and believed that poems ought to be scratched into walls and bridge vaults, able to be read by vagabonds, surrendered to the elements.

In Dante the hero would rather flee and renounce the tempting embrace instead of yielding to his desires and enduring the attendant dangers.

We're all free and equal to die like dogs

We're all so clogged with dead ideas
passed from generation to generation
that even the best of us don't know the way out
We invented the Revolution
but we don't know how to run it
Look everyone wants to keep something from the past
a souvenir of the old regime
This man decides to keep a painting
This one keeps his mistress
He [pointing] keeps his garden
He [pointing] keeps his estate
He keeps his country house
He keeps his factories
This man couldn't part with his shipyards
This one kept his army
and that one keeps his king

SADE
Desprezo essas manifestações da masa
que giram em círculo vicioso
(...)
Desprezo todas essas boas intenções
que se perdem nas vielas
desprezo todos os sacrifícios
feitos por alguma coisa
Só acredito em mim mesmo.

Long ago I abandoned my masterpiece
a roll of paper thirty yards long
which I filled completely with minute handwriting
in my dungeon years ago
It vanished when the Bastille fell
it vanished as everything written
everything thought and planned
will disappear

MARAT
O que é uma banheira de sangue
perto do sangue que ainda há de correr
Um dia pensamos que algumas centenas de mortos seriam o bastate
depois vimos que mesmo milhares eram insuficientes
E hoje não podem mais ser contados
ali e em todo lugar
em todo lugar
(...)
Simonne
Ouço o clamor dentro de mim
Simonne
Eu sou a Revolução.

Fight on land and sea
All men want to be free
If they don't
never mind
we'll abolish all mankind

And the priests looked down into the pit of injustice and they turned their faces away and said, 'Our kingdom is not as the kingdom of this world. Our life on earth is but a pilgrimage. The soul lives on humility and patience,' at the same time screwing the poor from their last centime. They settled down among their treasures and ate and drank with princes and to the starving they said, 'Suffer. Suffer as he suffered on the cross for it is the will of God.'

And anyone believes what they hear over and over again, so the poor instead of bread made do with a picture of the bleeding, scourged, and nailed-up Christ and prayed to that image of their helplessness. And the priests said, 'Raise your hands to heaven and bend your knees and bear your suffering without complaint. Pray for those that torture you, for prayer and blessing are the only stairways which you can climb to paradise.'

And so they chained down the poor in their ignorance so that they wouldn't stand up and fight their bosses who ruled in the name of the lie of divine right.

What kind of town is this
What sort of streets are these
Who invented this
who profits by it
I saw peddlers
at every corner
they’re selling little guillotines
with tiny sharp blades
and dolls filled with red liquid
which spurts fro the neck
when the sentence is carried out.
What kind of children are these
who can play
with this toys so efficiently
and who is judging

Only in his poetry did he have the courage to love.

Chiedi al Bunkerjakob
che controllava tutto
Come fai a resistere
Lui disse
Sia lode a quanto
rende duri
Io sto bene
mangio le razioni
di quelli là dentro
La loro morte non mi tocca
Tutto questo mi tocca
quanto può toccarmi
la pietra di questo muro

OS QUATRO CANTORES
Pobre Marat em tua casa cercada
estás adiantado um século de nós
Enquanto tine a lâmpada lá fora
e tuas palavras se decompõe
escorre-se em sangue
toda a verdade que aprendeste,

Chorus:
The Kings are our dear fathers
Under whose care we live in peace
The Kings are our dear fathers
Under whose care we live in peace
Marat:
And the children repeated the lesson they believed it
As anyone believes
What they hear over and over again
And over and over again the priests said
Our love embraces all mankind
Of every colour race and creed
Our love is international universal
We are all brothers every one
And the priests looked down into the pit of injustice
And they turned their faces away and said
Our Kingdom is not as the kingdom of this world
Our life on earth is out a pilgrimage
The soul lives on humility and patience
At the same time screwing from the poor their last centime
They settled down among their treasures
And ate and drank with princes
And to the starving they said
Suffer
Suffer as he suffered on the cross
For it is the will of God
And anyone believes what they hear over and over again
So the poor instead of bread made do with a picture
Of the bleeding scourged and nailed-up Christ
And prayed to that image of their helplessness
And the priests said
Raise your hands to heaven bend your knees
And bear your suffering without complaint
For prayer and blessing are the only stairways
Which you can climb to Paradise
And so they chained down the poor in their ignorance
So that they wouldn't stand up and fight their bosses
Who ruled in the name of the lie of divine right
Chorus:
Amen