Mrs. Fielitz monologue (Act 1) — The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann, Volume I

Well, then! Everybody knows that! On that very account! An' now there ain't nobody as bad as you! You're actin' like a reg'lar bloodhound! Why? You've always been as good as gold, Rauchhaupt! Every child in the place knows that! An' now, what's all this about?--You c'n go an' open one o' them there bottles. Why shouldn't we go an' drink a bit o' a drop together? [_RAUCHHAUPT wipes his eyes and then walks across to draw the cork of one of the bottles._]--Fightin' c'n begin again afterwards. I s'ppose life ain't no different from that.--An' we can't change it. There ain't nothin' but foolishness around. An' when you want to go an' open people's eyes--you can't do it! Foolishness--that's what rules this world.--What are we: you an' me an' all of us? We has had to go worryin' and workin' all our lives--every one of us has! Well, then! We ought to know how things reely is! If you don't join the scramble--you're lazy: if you do--you're bad.--An' everythin' we does get, we gets out o' the dirt. People like us has to turn their hands to anythin'! An' they, they tells you: be good, be good! How? What chanct has we got? But no, we don't even live in peace with each other.--I wanted to get on--that's true. An' ain't it natural? We all wants to get out o' this here mud in which we all fights an' scratches around ... Out o' it ... away from it ... higher up, if you wants to call it that ... Is it true as you're wantin' to move away from here, Rauchhaupt?