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About this quote

What does it mean?
Works endure while unfinished; completion marks their end.
In plain terms
Things live longer if never finished.
What can you take from it?
Value the process over the final product.

Where it applies

  • creative work
  • project management
  • philosophy

Putting it to work

  • delay finalization
  • focus on evolution

Questions to consider

  • When is something done?
  • Does completion kill art?

Another view

Unfinished works cannot be shared.

More from Bertolt Brecht

  1. 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 …

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  2. With drooping shoulders The majority sit hunched, their foreheads furrowed like Stony ground that has been repeatedly ploughed-up to no purpose.

    Permalink to quote #52
  3. All the gang of those who rule us Hope our quarrels never stop Helping them to split and fool us So they can remain on top.

    Permalink to quote #49

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