The theater-goer in conventional dramatic theater says: Yes… - Bertolt Brecht

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The theater-goer in conventional dramatic theater says: Yes, I've felt that way, too. That's the way I am. That's life. That's the way it will always be. The suffering of this or that person grips me because there is no escape for him. That's great art — Everything is self-evident. I am made to cry with those who cry, and laugh with those who laugh. But the theater-goer in the epic theater says: I would never have thought that. You can't do that. That's very strange, practically unbelievable. That has to stop. The suffering of this or that person grips me because there is an escape for him. That's great art — nothing is self-evident. I am made to laugh about those who cry, and cry about those who laugh.

Bertolt Brecht

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About Bertolt Brecht

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), commonly known as Bertolt Brecht, was a German Marxist dramatist, stage director and poet. He is remembered for the Distancing effect practice in performing arts (known in German as Verfremdungseffekt or V-Effekt).

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Also Known As

Pen Names: Berthold Larsen

Alternative Names: Berŭtʻoltʻŭ Bŭrehitʻŭ • Pertōl Pirekcṭ • Mpertolt Mprecht • Pu-lai-hsi-tʻe • Pertōlṭ Pirekcṭ • Perṭōlṭ Pireṣṭ • Bertolt Breht • Bert Brecht • Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht • Bertholt Brecht • Bertolʹd Brekht • Bertolʹt Brekht • Bertold Brecht • Bŭrehitʻŭ • Pei-tʻo-erh-tʻe Pu-lai-hsi-tʻe

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W. H. Auden John Steinbeck Mark Twain George Bernard Shaw Steven Erikson

Additional quotes by Bertolt Brecht

We attacked a foreign people and treated them like rebels. As you know, it's all right to treat barbarians barbarically. It's the desire to be barbaric that makes governments call their enemies barbarians.

Nowadays, anyone who wishes to combat lies and ignorance and to write the truth must overcome at least five difficulties. He must have the courage to write the truth when truth is everywhere opposed; the keenness to recognize it, although it is everywhere concealed; the skill to manipulate it as a weapon; the judgment to select those in whose hands it will be effective; and the running to spread the truth among such persons.

Of all the works of man I like best
Those which have been used.
The copper pots with their dents and flattened edges
The knives and forks whose wooden handles
Have been worn away by many hands: such forms
Seemed to me the noblest.

The theater-goer in conventional dramatic theater says: Yes, I've felt that way, too. That's the way I am. That's life. That's the way it will always… - Bertolt Brecht

About Bertolt Brecht

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Additional quotes by Bertolt Brecht