All Quiet on the Western Front Quotes

Opening Narration * Erich Maria Remarque

Paul Bäumer Not the Iron Youth then. No Iron Heroes. Just boys... wanna play, laugh, just stay alive. Only boys.

Paul Bäumer Well, Kat... I think we're gonna be separated. Three years. You remember when I first came up here? How green I was? You fixed that. "Keep your head down." That's what you said. Maybe... Maybe when this is over, when this war is really finished, maybe we can do something together. Huh? I don't know what. A glass of wine. I don't even know where you live. Three years in the same trenches, I don't even have your address. Let me give you mine. Let me give it to you.

Opening Narration This story is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men, who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war.

Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky Be careful with these uniforms, boys. They have to be handed down to the next bunch of heroes that gets reviewed by the ].

Paul Bäumer Kat, why do you think we're in this war?

Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky To protect the Fatherland.

Josef Behm What are the French fighting for?

Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky Protect the Motherland.

Tjaden And whose right?

Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky Whoever wins.

Paul Bäumer I didn't want to kill you. But you jumped in here like that. What would you have done? It's... it's just I'd never met you before... like this... face to face. I just saw your rifle... your bayonet... grenades. If we threw all those away... we could be brothers. But they never want us to know that, do they? They never want us to know. We each have mothers... fathers... the same... fear of death. The same... pain. The same... everything. Everything. Forgive me, comrade. I could write... to your family. Yes... Yes, I'll write!

Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky So, here you are. It's the custom to assign one old hand to every new platoon. You're the new platoon. I'm the old hand. In training camp they filled you full of fancy information on how to be a soldier. We're going to work hard to forget all that. I'll teach you practi... Listen to me, boy. I'll teach you practical things, like how to put your diapers on in the front lines, and how to kill Frenchies. You won't have long to wait before I baptise you. But first, we're gonna give you some hot food and we're gonna let you get some sleep, and then I'm gonna take you out on your first Patrol, tonight.