Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Survival involves cleverly navigating the systems that control or oppress you.
In plain terms
Living means finding ways to get around the rules that hold you down.
What can you take from it?
Use wit to survive oppressive systems.

Where it applies

  • bureaucracy
  • oppressive regimes
  • corporate culture

Putting it to work

  • navigating red tape
  • advocacy
  • self-preservation

Questions to consider

  • Is finesse enough?
  • How do you resist?

Another view

It can encourage cynicism rather than changing the system.

More from Bertolt Brecht

  1. Mixing one's wines may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably.

    Permalink to quote #10
  2. Do not treat me in this fashion. Don't leave me out. Have I not Always spoken the truth in my books? And now You treat me like a liar! I order you: Burn me! Th…

    Permalink to quote #8
  3. I see with sympathy The swollen veins on his brow, showing How exhausting it is to be evil.

    Permalink to quote #11

Related quotes

  1. A prince being thus obliged to know well how to act as a beast must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox c…

    Niccolo MachiavelliNiccolo Machiavelli quote #13
  2. You only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power - …

    Alexander SolzhenitsynAlexander Solzhenitsyn quote #15
  3. You cannot profit from small techniques particularly when full armor is worn. My Way of strategy is the sure method to win when fighting for your life one man …

    Miyamoto MusashiMiyamoto Musashi quote #46