Hopes and Mistakes: 12 Classic Sentences from 'All Quiet on the Western Front'
1I buried my head and bit into the pillow, clenched my fists, and lay there on the bed beam. I deeply regretted my vacation home. Everything ahead was irrelevant; I couldn't even fantasize or hope; but now I couldn't do it anymore. I wasn't a pure soldier; I had become a person tormented by pain for my mother, for myself, and for some inexplicable feeling.
2We hadn't yet rooted ourselves, and the war swept us away like a flood.
3I saw various nations hating each other, silently, stupidly, foolishly, and willingly sacrificing themselves without guilt. I saw the most brilliant minds still inventing weapons and writing articles to make this kind of hostility and slaughter more sophisticated and enduring.
4At the edge of death, life has a remarkably simple route, only a step away from the most immediate need for food; everything else is in deep sleep—this is our salvation; we were saved like this.
5He died in action in October 1918; on that day, the entire front line was so quiet and still that the army command reports only contained one sentence: 'No fighting on the Western Front.'
6War has destroyed everything we had.
7We were so hungry, simply because food could save our lives.
8A soldier only survives after experiencing a thousand random events.
9There are thousands upon thousands of Cantoekes in the world, each believing they are doing the best thing in their own way. But this is precisely the reason for their failure.
10My dearest mother! In your eyes, I will always be a child; I really want to press my head against your knees for a good cry to get some comfort. In fact, I am still a child; the short children's clothes in the wardrobe are just yesterday, but all of this is gone.
11We must live at any cost, therefore we cannot bear the burden of emotions.
12As long as people simply succumb, terror can be endured; but if people think about it, it will drive a person to madness.
