Peter Weiss Quotes

Long ago I left heroics to the heroes

Once and for all
the idea of glorious victories
won by the glorious army
must be wiped out
Neither side is glorious
On either side they're just frightened men messing their pants
and they all want the same thing
Not to lie under the earth
but to walk upon it
without crutches

(Roux, act 1, scene 19)

Every death even the cruelest death
drowns in the total indifference of Nature
Nature herself would watch unmoved
if we destroyed the entire human race
I hate Nature
this passionless spectator this unbreakable iceberg-face
that can bear everything
this goads us to greater and greater acts

What's the point of a revolution
without general
copulation copulation copulation

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.

With the plundered people transferring their energies into relaxed and receptive thoughts, degradation and lust for power produced art.

These cells of the inner self are darker than the deepest stone dungeon, and as long as they are locked, all your revolution remains but a prison mutiny, to be put down by corrupted fellow prisoners.

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

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

And now Marat
now I see where
this revolution is heading
To the withering of the individual man
and a slow merging into uniformity
to the death of choice
to self denial
to deadly weakness
in a state
which has no contract with individuals
but which is impregnable

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.

What has gone wrong with
the men who are ruling
I'd like to know who
they think they are fooling
They told us that torture
was over and gone
but everyone knows
the same torture goes on

SADE
Olhai-os Marat
olhai os antigos donos de todos os bens do mundo
como transformaram em triunfo a sua queda
Agora que lhes roubaram todos os prazeres
O cadafalso guarda-os de tédio infindo
Felizes sobem as escadas
como se subissem ao trono
Não é o cúmulo da corrupção

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

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