The war has ruined us for everything.

It's only terrible to have nothing to wait for.

Modesty and conscientiousness receive their reward only in novels. In life they are exploited and then shoved aside.

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.

For a moment I had a strange intuition that just this, and in a real, profound sense, is life; and perhaps happiness even - love with a mixture of sadness, reverence, and silent knowledge.

To me the front is a mysterious whirlpool. Though I am in still water far away from its centre, I feel the whirl of the vortex sucking me slowly, irresistibly, inescapably into itself.

We have lost all sense of other considerations, because they are artificial. Only the facts are real and important to us. And good boots are hard to come by." - All Quiet On The Western Front, Ch. 2