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
Our thoughts are clay, they are moulded with the changes of the days;--when we are resting they are good; under fire, they are dead. Fields of craters within and without.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our thoughts are shaped by our experiences and circumstances, changing with time; they can be constructive when calm but detrimental under pressure.
This quote by Erich Maria Remarque reflects on the malleable nature of our thoughts and mental states, suggesting that they are influenced by the events we encounter each day. During peaceful times, our thoughts can flourish and lead to positive outcomes, but in stressful situations, they can become stifled or harmful, highlighting the duality of our internal experiences amidst external circumstances.
Themes
ThoughtsMalleableChangeExperienceStress
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech aimed at helping people overcome anxiety, one might start with this quote to illustrate the impact of thoughts.
More from Erich Maria Remarque
All quotes →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.
Erich Maria RemarqueRead
Anyway the war is over so far as they are concerned. But to wait for dysentery is not much of a life either.
Erich Maria RemarqueRead
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.
Erich Maria RemarqueRead
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.
Erich Maria RemarqueRead
(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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