All Quiet on the Western Front quotes

View Quote [about Paul] Here is one of the first to go, a lad who sat before me on these very benches who gave up all to serve in the first year of the war. One of the iron youth who have made Germany invincible in the field. Look at him, sturdy and bronze and clear-eyed, the kind of soldier every one of you should envy.

View Quote [Paul is on a mission with his comrades. He goes in a shell hole and to protect himself from gunfire] I say "You must [get out of this hollow], it is your comrades, it is not and idiotic command," and again: "What does it matter to me, I have only one life to lose—"

View Quote [Paul is trapped in a shell crater with the body of a French soldier he has just mortally wounded.] Stop that! I can't listen to that. Why do you take so long to die? You're going to die anyway. No, no. You won't die. No, no, You won't die. They're only little wounds. You'll get home. You'll be all right. You'll get home long before I will. You know I can't run away. That's why you accuse me. I tell you I didn't want to kill you. I tried to keep you alive. If you jumped in here again, I wouldn't do it... You see, when you jumped in here, you were my enemy — and I was afraid of you. But you're just a man like me, and I killed you. Forgive me, comrade. Say that for me. Say you forgive me! Oh, no, you're dead! Only you're better off than I am — you're through — they can't do any more to you now. Oh, God! why did they do this to us? We only wanted to live, you and I. Why should they send us out to fight each other? If they threw away these rifles and these uniforms, you could be my brother, just like Kat and Albert. You'll have to forgive me, comrade. I'll do all I can. I'll write to your parents. I'll write to your wife. I'll write to her. I promise she'll not want for anything. And I'll help her, and your parents, too. Only forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me....

View Quote [to class] You are the life of the Fatherland, you boys - you are the iron men of Germany. You are the gay heroes who will repulse the enemy when you are called to do so. It is not for me to suggest that any of you should stand up and offer to defend his country. But I wonder if such a thing is going through your heads. I know that in one of the schools, the boys have risen up in the classroom and enlisted in a mass. If such a thing should happen here, you would not blame me for a feeling of pride. Perhaps some will say that you should not be allowed to go yet - that you have homes, mothers, fathers, that you should not be torn away by your fathers so forgetful of their fatherland...by your mothers so weak that they cannot send a son to defend the land which gave them birth. And after all, is a little experience such a bad thing for a boy? Is the honor of wearing a uniform something from which we should run? And if our young ladies glory in those who wear it, is that anything to be ashamed of?...To be foremost in battle is a virtue not to be despised. I believe it will be a quick war. There will be few losses. But if losses there must be, then let us remember the Latin phrase which must have come to the lips of many a Roman when he stood in battle in a foreign land:...Sweet and fitting it is to die for the Fatherland...Now our country calls. The Fatherland needs leaders. Personal ambition must be thrown aside in the one great sacrifice for our country. Here is a glorious beginning to your lives. The field of honor calls you.

View Quote [to new recruits] Now you're gonna see some shell fire, and you're gonna be scared... [a shell explodes nearby and they all duck for cover; one terrified recruit soils his pants] Never mind. It's happened to better men than you. And it's happened to me. When we come back, I'll get you all some nice, clean underwear!

View Quote I saw him die. I didn't know what it was like to die before! And then, then I came outside and it felt so good to be alive, that I started in to walk fast. I began to think of the strangest things like bein' out in the fields, things like that. You know — girls. Then it felt as if there were something electric running from the ground up through me. And I started. And I began to run hard and I passed soldiers, and I heard voices calling to me, and I ran and I ran, and I felt as if I couldn't breathe enough air into me. And now I'm hungry.

View Quote Oh God. This is Franz Kemmerich, only 19 years old. He doesn't want to die. Please don't let him die.

View Quote Out of 20, three are officers, nine dead, Müller and three others wounded, and one in the mad house. We'll all be dead someday so let's forget it.

View Quote Replacements are all like that. Not even old enough to carry a pack. All they know how to do is die.

View Quote Sometime I'm gonna take one of you volunteers apart — find out what makes you leave school and join the army. Hey, this is no parade ground.

View Quote That cannon shell you don't have to pay much attention to. Those big fellas just make a lot of noise and land about five miles behind the line. The things we've got to watch out for are them black ones. They don't give you much warning... Mother Earth — press yourselves down upon her! Bury yourselves deep into her! Just keep your eyes on me. When you see me flop, you flop, only try to beat me to it.

View Quote There used to be some food in the sawdust. Now it's all sawdust. No joke either.

View Quote There's 80 of us left. The rest is in dressing stations or pushing up daisies.

View Quote [of Katczinsky] If he were out, the war would be over. You remember what he always said: 'They're savin' him for the last.'

View Quote [to Paul on his return] It's gonna be a real war again.