Quotes from Mother Courage and Her Children

“I won't let you spoil my war for me. Destroys the weak, does it? Well, what does peace do for'em, huh? War feeds its people better.”
― Bertolt Brecht, quote from Mother Courage and Her Children

“MUTTER COURAGE Mir scheint, ich hab zu lang gehandelt.”
― Bertolt Brecht, quote from Mother Courage and Her Children

“Sometimes I see myself driving through hell with this wagon and selling brimstone. And sometimes I’m driving through heaven handing our provisions to wandering souls! If only we could find a place where there’s no shooting, me and my children—what’s left of ‘em—we might rest a while.”
― Bertolt Brecht, quote from Mother Courage and Her Children

“He says he'd like to kiss the ground you walk on-reminds me, did you wash them yesterday?- and after that you're his skivvy.”
― Bertolt Brecht, quote from Mother Courage and Her Children

“Potkupljivost je u ljudi isto što u Boga milosrđe.”
― Bertolt Brecht, quote from Mother Courage and Her Children

“He’ll never be conquered, that man, and you know why? We all back him up – the little fellows like you and me. Oh yes, to hear the big fellows talk, they ‘re fighting for their beliefs and so on, but if you look into it, you find they’re not that silly: they do want to make a profit on the deal. So you and I back them up! COOK”
― Bertolt Brecht, quote from Mother Courage and Her Children

“VOJNI ŽUPNIK: Hoću reći, mira ima i u ratu, ima on svojih mirovnih mjesta. Rat naime zadovoljava sve potrebe, među njima i za mirom, tu je on zbrinut, inače se ne bi uspijevao održati. I u ratu se možeš pokakati kao i u najdubljem miru, a između jednog i drugog okršaja ima i piva, pa čak i dok se napreduje možeš malo zadrijemati, oslonjen o lakte, to se uvijek može, u grabi na ulici. Za juriša se doduše ne možeš kartati, ne možeš to ni dok u najdubljem miru oreš njivu, ali nakon pobjede ima tih mogućnosti. Može biti da ti kugla odnese nogu, isprva ispustiš grozan krik, kao da je to nešto, ali onda se primiriš ili dobiješ rakije, pa na kraju opet cupkaš, a rat nije nimalo lošiji no prije. A što te priječi da se usred tog klanja i množiš, iza nekog štaglja ili bilo gdje drugdje, od toga te nije moguće zadugo uzdržati, i rat onda dobije tvoje izdanke i može krenuti dalje. Ne, rat uvijek nađe izlaza, kako da ne. Zašto bi morao prestati?”
― Bertolt Brecht, quote from Mother Courage and Her Children

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Popular quotes

“What of it? If I die, I die. It will be no great loss to the world, and I am thoroughly bored with life. I am like a man yawning at a ball; the only reason he does not go home to bed is that his carriage has not arrived yet.”
― Mikhail Lermontov, quote from A Hero of Our Time

“You'll pay," she said stonily. "You won't be like this by this time tomorrow."
"Bored and pissed off? God, I hope not.”
― MaryJanice Davidson, quote from Undead and Unwed

“Omri refused to get involved in an argument. He was somehow scared that if he talked about the Indian, something bad would happen. In fact, as the day went on and he longed more and more to get home, he began to feel certain that the whole incredible happening—well, not that it hadn’t happened, but that something would go wrong. All his thoughts, all his dreams were centered on the miraculous, endless possibilities opened up by a real, live, miniature Indian of his very own. It would be too terrible if the whole thing turned out to be some sort of mistake.”
― Lynne Reid Banks, quote from The Indian in the Cupboard

“And when she dreams, she dreams of a girl who was lost at sea but one day found the shore.”
― Gabrielle Zevin, quote from Elsewhere

“What’s Albert going to do?” a boy named Jim demanded. “Where’s Albert?”
Albert stepped from an inconspicuous position off to one side. He mounted the steps, moving carefully still, not entirely well even now.
He carefully chose a position equidistant between Caine and Sam.
“What should we do, Albert?” a voice asked plaintively.
Albert didn’t look out at the crowd except for a quick glance up, like he was just making sure he was pointed in the right direction. He spoke in a quiet, reasonable monotone. Kids edged closer to hear.
“I’m a businessman.”
“True.” Toto.
“My job is organizing kids to work, taking the things they harvest or catch, and redistributing them through a market.”
“And getting the best stuff for yourself,” someone yelled to general laughter.
“Yes,” Albert acknowledged. “I reward myself for the work I do.”
This blunt admission left the crowd nonplussed.
“Caine has promised that if I stay here he won’t interfere. But I don’t trust Caine.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Toto agreed.
“I do trust Sam. But . . .”
And now you could hear a pin drop.
“But . . . Sam is a weak leader.” He kept his eyes down. “Sam is the best fighter ever. He’s defended us many times. And he’s the best at figuring out how to survive. But Sam”— Albert now turned to him—“You are too humble. Too willing to step aside. When Astrid and the council sidelined you, you put up with it. I was part of that myself. But you let us push you aside and the council turned out to be useless.”
Sam stood stock-still, stone-faced.
“Let’s face it, you’re not really the reason things are better here, I am,” Albert said. “You’re way, way braver than me, Sam. And if it’s a battle, you rule. But you can’t organize or plan ahead and you won’t just put your foot down and make things happen.”
Sam nodded slightly. It was hard to hear. But far harder was seeing the way the crowd was nodding, agreeing. It was the truth. The fact was he’d let the council run things, stepped aside, and then sat around feeling sorry for himself. He’d jumped at the chance to go off on an adventure and he hadn’t been here to save the town when they needed it.
“So,” Albert concluded, “I’m keeping my things here, in Perdido Beach. But there will be free trading of stuff between Perdido Beach and the lake. And Lana has to be allowed to move freely.”
Caine bristled at that. He didn’t like Albert laying down conditions.
Albert wasn’t intimidated. “I feed these kids,” he said to Caine. “I do it my way.”
Caine hesitated, then made a tight little bow of the head.
“I want you to say it,” Albert said with a nod toward Toto.
Sam saw panic in Caine’s eyes. If he lied now the jig would be up for him. Toto would call him out, Albert would support Sam, and the kids would follow Albert’s lead.
Sam wondered if Caine was just starting to realize what Sam had known for some time: if anyone was king, it was neither Sam nor Caine, it was Albert.”
― Michael Grant, quote from Plague

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

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