For us lads of eighteen they ought to have been mediators and guides to the world of maturity, the world of work, of duty, of culture, of progress -- to the future.
Erich Maria RemarqueRead
That is the remarkable thing about drinking: it brings people together so quickly, but between night and morning it sets an interval again of years.
Interpretation
Drinking creates strong bonds among people but can also lead to estrangement as time passes.
Erich Maria Remarque's quote highlights the paradox of drinking; it has the power to forge deep connections between individuals in an instant, yet the effects and relationships created during such moments can dissipate, leading to long periods of disconnection. This transient nature of shared experiences reminds us that while alcohol can unite, it often does so fleetingly, leaving a gap of time and distance once the night has ended.
In practice
During a toast at a wedding to celebrate friendships formed over the years.
For us lads of eighteen they ought to have been mediators and guides to the world of maturity, the world of work, of duty, of culture, of progress -- to the future.
They are more human and more brotherly towards one another, it seems to me, than we are. But perhaps that is merely because they feel themselves to be more unfortunate than us.
Anyway the war is over so far as they are concerned. But to wait for dysentery is not much of a life either.
We are little flames poorly sheltered by frail walls against the storm of dissolution and madness, in which we flicker and sometimes almost go out…we creep in upon ourselves and with big eyes stare into the night…and thus we wait for morning.
There was only the broad square with the scattered dim moons of the street lamps and with the monumental stone arch which receded into the mist as though it would prop up the melancholy sky and protect beneath itself the faint lonely flame on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which looked like the last grave of mankind in the midst of night and loneliness.
(Ravic speaking of a butterfly caught in the Louvre) In the morning it would search for flowers and life and the light honey of blossoms and would not find them and later it would fall asleep on millennial marble, weakened by then, until the grip of the delicate, tenacious feet loosened and it fell, a thin leaf of premature autumn.
Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
An enemy to whom you show kindness becomes your friend, excepting lust, the indulgence of which increases its enmity.
That is the happiest conversation where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm, quiet interchange of sentiments...
A light has dawned for me: I need companions, living ones, not dead companions and corpses which I carry with me wherever I wish. But I need living companions who follow me because they want to follow themselves- and who want to go where I want to go.
Strangers are exciting, their mystery never ends. But, there's nothing like looking at your own history in the faces of your friends.
Yes, we must ever be friends; and of all who offer you friendship Let me be ever the first, the truest, the nearest and dearest.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.