Erich Maria Remarque Quotes

As I understand from the real military personnel who I've had the opportunity to speak to over the last few years, humor is very much used to diffuse stress. I think that if they were to keep it as serious as the situations often are, there would be a lot more nervous breakdowns.

After an injury, I think you have to be strong mentally.

But there were times when you felt miserable and you wanted to feel better, and other times when you felt miserable and you figured you would just keep on feeling miserable.

Why were you feeling low? Why does anyone? It creeps up on you from time to time.

Anxiety is the essential condition of intellectual and artistic creation and everything that is finest in human history.

The only thing that feeling bad accomplishes is to plummet you into anxiety, despair, depression, and stress. In such situations, ask yourself in that moment what THOUGHT you can have that will make you feel GOOD!

If I didn't have a sense of humor, how could I stand this trial now?

Some people don't have a family to fall back on, like I have, and that's when something greater than even that comes in, and that's faith and that's what I have for me, that's what keeps me strong.

It was such a depressing time. I didn't look very depressed, maybe, but it was really dire. I made a conscious decision not to stop, but it could have gone the other way.

But even so, none of the news of these world-spasms entered me as terror.

I'm tired of being scared, and I know you are too. Not that there isn't alot to be scared of in this world today, between the non-stop headlines about wars and nuclear power plants and terrorists and assasinations and civil unrest and economic uncertainty and political doublespeak and insane weather and an environment that's becoming unhealthier by the day. But a point comes when it's too much to deal with, and thinking about it accomplishes nothing more than sending you to bed with a cold cloth on your head.

Don't let your thoughts run away with you, don't start planning to bail out because you're worried about the future and how much you can take. Don't look ahead to the pain. Just get through the day.

If you are wholly perplexed and in straits, have patience, for patience is the key to joy.

I think perhaps all of us go a little crazy at times.

Panic is our great enemy.

I think my apocalyptic feelings went deeper than [heavily influenced by Reagan and AIDS]. I'm really at peace with how afraid I am.

Hopes are always accompanied by fears, and, in scientific research, the fears are liable to become dominant.

Boredom is the only sure cure for neurosis.

A general in time of war is constantly bombarded by reports both true and false; by errors arising from fear or negligence or hastiness; by disobedience born of right or wrong interpretations, of ill will; of a proper or mistaken sense of duty; of laziness; or of exhaustion; and by accident that nobody could have foreseen. In short, he is exposed to countless impressions, most of them disturbing, few of them encouraging. ... If a man were to yield to these pressures, he would never complete an operation.

Anyone who has known happiness will never again be able humbly to accept sadness.

Sensory experience does not offset the intense pain or pleasure we feel on a mental level; it may distract us, but doesn't overcome it. On the other hand, if we have peace of mind, even negative experiences do not upset us. Peace of mind is also good for our physical health. Medical experts have found that anger, hatred and fear eat into our immune system. Being calm and relaxed is better for our physical well-being.

But Margaret was at an age when any apprehension, not absolutely based on a knowledge of facts, is easily banished for a time by a bright sunny day, or some happy outward circumstance. And when the brilliant fourteen fine days of October came on, her cares were all blown away as lightly as thistledown, and she thought of nothing but the glories of the forest.

Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it

Worry lives a long way from rational thought."---Self