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
It's all rot that they put in the war-news about the good humour of the troops, how they are arranging dances almost before they are out of the front-line. We don't act like that because we are in a good humour: we are in a good humour because otherwise we should go to pieces.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the portrayal of soldiers' morale during war, suggesting that their good spirits are a coping mechanism rather than a sign of genuine happiness.
Erich Maria Remarque's quote reflects the complex psychological state of soldiers during war, emphasizing that their apparent good humour is not an indication of their true feelings but rather a necessary facade to maintain sanity in the face of horror. The statement invites a deeper understanding of the human emotional experience in extreme circumstances, highlighting the necessity of maintaining a semblance of normalcy to cope with the trauma of conflict.
Themes
WarHumourCopingPsychologySoldiers
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the psychological impacts of war on soldiers.
More from Erich Maria Remarque
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(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.
Erich Maria RemarqueRead
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