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Erich Maria Remarque quotes

English (13) Français (12)

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“now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship.” Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
“Life did not intend to make us perfect. Whoever is perfect belongs in a museum.” Erich Maria Remarque, Arch of Triumph
“Extraordinary creatures you young people are, altogether. The past you hate, the present you despise, and the future is a matter of indifference. How do you suppose that can lead to any good end?” Erich Maria Remarque, Three Comrades
“you may turn into an archangel, a fool or a criminal—no one will see it. But when a button is missing—everyone sees that.” Erich Maria Remarque, Arch of Triumph
“Paris blacked out. Paris. As if the light of the world were to be blacked out.” Erich Maria Remarque, Arch of Triumph
“The wisest were just the poor and simple people. They knew the war to be a misfortune, whereas those who were better off, and should have been able to see more clearly what the consequences would be, were beside themselves with joy.” Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
“It's only terrible to have nothing to wait for.” Erich Maria Remarque, Three Comrades
“all love has the desire for eternity and that therein lies its eternal torment. Nothing lasts. Nothing.” Erich Maria Remarque, Three Comrades
“It is very queer that the unhappiness of the world is so often brought on by small men.” Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
“I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently,...” Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
“We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.” Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
“it awakened in us a strong, practical sense of esprit de corps, which in the field developed into the finest thing that arose out of the war — comradeship.” Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
“Keep things at arm's length . . . If you let anything come too near you want to hold on to it. And there is nothing a man can hold on to.” Erich Maria Remarque, Three Comrades

Related topics

love war youth perfection distance Paris others life unhappiness world sorrow poverty light appearance indifference waiting eternity purpose insight sympathy

Related sources

All Quiet on the Western Front (6)
Three Comrades (4)
Arch of Triumph (3)