POSTED BY MARTIN KICH
I have been collecting pieces of the way that the arts can help us to fashion a response to disturbing political circumstances.
What follows is a brief excerpt from “In the Dark Times,” a poem by Bertolt Brecht that was written in response to times much darker than our own:
“In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing.
About the dark times.”
Source: Motto to the ‘Svendborg Poems‘ [Motto der ‘Svendborger Gedichte’] (1938), trans. John Willett in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 320 (1976)]
Reblogged this on Ohio Politics.
A few more quotes from Brecht that fit our time:
“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.”
“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”
“The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.”
“Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.”
“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.”
“Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.”