I'm Not Saying Anything Against Alexander

By Bertolt Brecht

Timur, I hear, took the trouble to conquer the earth.

I don't understand him.

With a bit of hard liquor you can forget the earth.

I'm not saying anything against Alexander,

Only I have seen people who were remarkable,

Highly deserving of your admiration

For the fact that they were alive at all.

Great men generate too much sweat.

In all of this I see just a proof that

They couldn't stand being on their own

And smoking and drinking and the like.

And they must be too mean-spirited to get

Contentment from sitting by a woman.