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

“Have faith and pursue the unknown end.” Oliver Wendell Holmes”
― James Patterson, quote from Kiss the Girls

“I wanted to run away from everything but I wanted to run towards something too. Don't you see, dear, how it was?”
― Sherwood Anderson, quote from Winesburg, Ohio

“Human cruelty and treachery surpassed all understanding. There were no answers. Only excuses.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Intensity

“A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of Communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this specter; Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot, French radicals and German police spies.

Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as Communistic by its opponents in power? Where the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?

Two things result from this fact.

I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European powers to be in itself a power.

II. It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the Specter of Communism with a Manifesto of the party itself.”
― Karl Marx, quote from The Communist Manifesto

“Voi che vivete sicuri
Nelle vostre tiepide case,
Voi che trovate tornando a sera
Il cibo caldo e visi amici:
Considerate se questo è un uomo
Che lavora nel fango
Che non conosce pace
Che lotta per mezzo pane
Che muore per un sì o per un no.
Considerate se questa è una donna,
Senza capelli e senza nome
Senza più forza di ricordare
Vuoti gli occhi e freddo il grembo
Come una rana d'inverno.
Meditate che questo è stato:
Vi comando queste parole.
Scolpitele nel vostro cuore
Stando in casa andando per via,
Coricandovi alzandovi;
Ripetetele ai vostri figli.
O vi si sfaccia la casa,
La malattia vi impedisca,
I vostri nati torcano il viso da voi.”
― Primo Levi, quote from Survival in Auschwitz

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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.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.