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Erich Maria Remarque

Erich Maria Remarque Quotes

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“At the sound of the first droning of the shells we rush back, in one part of our being, a thousand years. By the animal instinct that is awakened in us we are led and protected. It is not conscious; it is far quicker, much more sure, less fallible, than consciousness. One cannot explain it. A man is walking along without thought or heed; - suddenly he throws himself down on the ground and a storm of fragments fly harmlessly over him; - yet he cannot remember either to have heard the shell coming or to have thought of flinging himself down. But had he not abandoned himself to the impulse he would now be a heap of mangled flesh. It is this other, this second sight in us, that has thrown us to the ground and saved us, without our knowledge how. If it were not so, there would not be one man alive . . .”

“It brings a lump into the throat to see how they go over, and run and fall. A man would like to spank them, they are so stupid, and to take them by the arm and lead them away from here where they have no business to be. They wear grey coats and trousers and boots, but for most of them the uniform is far too big, it hangs on their limbs, their shoulders are too narrow, their bodies too slight; no uniform was ever made to these childish measurements.”

“Het ogenblik werd alles voor me. Morgen lag eindeloos ver weg. Als Helen wakker werd, begon de dag en als ze sliep en ik haar naast mij voelde, begon het heen en weer slingeren van hoop en wanhoop, van plannen die op droomfundamenten gebouwd waren, van pragmatische wonderen en een filosofie van het nog-hebben en het sluiten van de ogen voor de werkelijkheid, die in het vroege licht uitdoofde en in de mist verdronk.”

“Bir emir bu sessiz kişileri bizim düşmanımız yaptı. Bir emir onları dostumuz yapabilirdi. Hiçbirimizi tanımayan birkaç kişi, herhangi bir masanın çevresinde toplanıp bir yazıyı imzaladılar. Başka zaman olsa bütün dünyanın hakaretini ve cezasını üstüne çekecek olan bu yazı, bizler için yıllarca en yüksek amaç yerine geçecek.”

“...and yet they are always absorbed in the things that go to make up their existence. Formerly, I lived in just the same way myself. But now I feel no contact here. They talk too much for me. They have worries, aims, desires, but I cannot comprehend. I often sit with one of them in the little BierGarten and try to explain to him that this is really the only thing, just to sit, quietly, like this. They understand, of course, they agree. They may even feel it so too. But only with words, only with words. Yes, that is it, they feel it, but only with half of themselves. The rest of their being is taken up with other things. They are so divided in themselves, that none feels it with his whole essence.”

“-În tinerețe susțineam că bărbatul nu este în stare să iubească.Mi-am retractat apoi spusele.Trebuie să te înalți de la iubirea pur fizică la cea sufletească.Mulți confundă euforia simțurilor cu iubirea.Iubirea este în primul rând sufletească, psihică.Asta nu înseamnă că trebuie neapărat să rămână platonică, palidă, neîmplinită.Totuși, armonia fizică trebuie să fie o intensificare sau declanșare a contactului sufletesc.”

“Dar poate că toate lucrurile la care cuget acum pornesc numai din melancolie și depresiune și se vor risipi de îndată ce mă voi afla sub plopii de acasă și voi asculta fâșâitul frunzișului lor. Nu se poate să fi dispărut toată acea dulceață care ne-a tulburat, tot ce a fost nebulos, uluitor, în devenire, miile de fețe ale viitorului, melodia din vise și cărți, foșnetul femeii și presimțirea ființei ei; nu se poate ca toate acestea să fi pierit în urletul bombardamentelor, în deznădejdea noastră și în bordelurile soldățești.”

“And that is why they let us down so badly. 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. We often made fun of them and played jokes on them, but in our hearts we trusted them. The idea of authority, which they represented, was associated in our minds with a greater insight and a more humane wisdom. But the first death we saw shattered this belief. We had to recognize that our generation was more to be trusted than theirs. They surpassed us only in phrases and in cleverness. The first bombardment showed us our mistake, and under it the world as they had taught it to us broke in pieces.”

“До чего бессмысленно все, что было когда-либо написано, сделано, подумано, если возможно вот такое! Наверно, все ложь и ничтожность, коль скоро культура тысячелетий даже не сумела воспрепятствовать тому, чтобы проливались эти реки крови, чтобы сотнями тысяч существовали эти пыточные застенки. Только лазарет показывает, что такое война.”

“Приказ сделал эти тихие фигуры нашими врагами; приказ мог бы превратить их и в друзей. Где-то за столом несколько человек, которых ни один из нас знать не знает, подписывают некий документ, и на годы наша главная цель - то, что весь мир обыкновенно считает презренным и заслуживающим наивысшей кары.”

“Они еще писали и произносили речи, а мы видели лазареты и умирающих; они называли служение государству самым главным, а мы уже знали, что смертельный страх сильнее. Однако страх не сделал нас ни бунтарями, ни дезертирами, ни трусами - они-то с легкостью сыпали этими выражениями, - мы любили родину, как и они, и всегда храбро шли в атаку; но теперь мы прозрели, вмиг научились видеть. И увидели, что от их мира не осталось ничего.”

“Предлагает превратить объявление войны в этакий народный праздник - вход по билетам, музыка, как на боях быков. А на арене министры и генералы двух стран-противников, в плавках, вооруженные дубинками, пускай дерутся между собой. Кто уцелеет, та страна и победила. Куда проще и лучше, чем здесь, где воюют друг с другом совсем не те люди.”

“Вы здесь жили? – спросила Лилиан. – У этого озера? – Да. Почти год. После побега и после войны. Я хотел прожить здесь несколько дней, а застрял надолго. Это было для меня лечением. Я в нем нуждался. Я лечился ничегонеделанием, солнцем и ящерицами, которые грелись на каменных стенах, я лечился тем, что часами смотрел на небо и на озеро, я старался все забыть, и наконец мои глаза перестали уставляться в одну точку и я понял, что природа даже не заметила двадцати лет человеческого безумия. Салют!”

“And in the night you realize, when you wake out of a dream, overcome and captivated by the enchantment of visions that crowd in on each other, just how fragile a handhold, how tenuous a boundary separates us from darkness - we are little flames, inadequately sheltered by thin walls from the tempest of dissolution and insensibility in which we flicker and are often all but extinguished. Then the muted sounds of battle surrounds us, and we creep into ourselves and stare wide-eyed into the night.”

“There was always a screen behind which one could hide— a superior who in turn had his superior— orders, instructions, duties, commands— and finally the many-headed monster, morale, necessity, hard reality, responsibility, or whatever it was called— there was always a screen behind which to evade the simple law of humanity.”

“(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.”

“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.”