A Farewell to Arms Quotes

“I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it. There were many words that you could not stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. Certain numbers were the same way and certain dates and these with the names of the places were all you could say and have them mean anything. Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates.”

(Chapter 27) (Lieutenant Frederic Henry)

Analysis

In this passage, the protagonist, Henry, holds the view that war, the primary theme of the novel, in reality, is tragic rather than something glorious and honorable. Henry, after spending his summer in Milan with Catherine, has just returned to the front lines. He realizes the stark difference between the gloom of the war and his beautiful love story with Catherine. This reflects Hemingway’s own style of writing that stresses on the factual detail rather than the abstract. Hemingway uses detailed description of the settings and the occurrences in the novel rather than flowery language.

“There, darling. Now you’re all clean inside and out. Tell me. How many people have you ever loved?”

“Nobody.”

“Not even me?”

“Yes, you.”

“How many others really?”

“None.”

“How many have you—how do you say it?—stayed with?”

“None.”

“You’re lying to me.”

“Yes.”

“It’s all right. Keep right on lying to me. That’s what I want you to do. Were they pretty?”

(Chapter 27) (Catherine Barkley and Lieutenant Frederic Henry)

Analysis

This exchange between the young couple occurs when Henry arrives at the American hospital in Milan. Right before Henry is taken to the operation theatre, this conversation diverts their minds from all the unpleasantness of the war. It signifies that Henry is cleansed from inside and out by Catherine’s love. The reader is, however, unsure what made Henry declare his love for Catherine.

“But we were never lonely and never afraid when we were together. I know that the night is not the same as the day: that all things are different, that the things of the night cannot be explained in the day, because they do not then exist, and the night can be a dreadful time for lonely people once their loneliness has started. But with Catherine there was almost no difference in the night except that it was an even better time. If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

(Chapter 34) (Lieutenant Frederic Henry)

Analysis

After their reunion in Stresa, Henry lies in bed with Catherine, musing about how the couple cannot escape this vicious cycle of fear and loneliness. At the beginning of the quotation, Henry’s thoughts are positive, and he introspects how the presence of Catherine alleviates his feelings of loneliness. He feels that when they are together, they manage to overcome the lingering sense of fear and loneliness, which is prevalent in the presence of other people. However, this feeling is overshadowed by his dark philosophy that upholds that the world ultimately kills the good, the gentle, and the brave—all terms that Henry has used to describe Catherine. These thoughts allude to the inevitability of Catherine’s death. The unseen force from which the couple is escaping will ultimately catch up with them.

“All thinking men are atheists.”

(Chapter 2) (Major)

“I had gone to no place where the roads were frozen and hard as iron, where it was clear cold and dry and the snow was dry and powdery and hare-tracks in the snow and the peasants took off their hats and called you Lord and there was good hunting. I had gone to no such place but to the smoke of cafes and nights when the room whirled and you needed to look at the wall to make it stop, nights in bed, drunk, when you knew that that was all there was.”

(Chapter 3) (Lieutenant Frederic Henry)

“I have noticed that doctors who fail in the practice of medicine have a tendency to seek one another’s company and aid in consultation. A doctor who cannot take out your appendix properly will recommend to you a doctor who will be unable to remove your tonsils with success. These were three such doctors.”

(Chapter 15) (Lieutenant Frederic Henry)

“I know the night is not the same as the day: that all things are different, that the things of the night cannot be explained in the day, because they do not then exist, and the night can be a dreadful time for lonely people once their loneliness has started.”

(Chapter 15) (Lieutenant Frederic Henry)

“Life isn’t hard to manage when you’ve nothing to lose.”

(Chapter 21) (Catherine)

“When we were out past the tanneries onto the main road the troops, the motor trucks, the horse-drawn carts and the guns were in one wide slow-moving column. We moved slowly but steadily in the rain, the radiator cap of our car against the tailboard of a truck that was loaded high, the load covered with wet canvas. Then the truck stopped. The whole column was stopped. It started again and we went a little farther, then stopped. I got out and walked ahead, going between the trucks and carts and under the wet necks of the horses.”

(Chapter 28) (Henry)

“God please make her not die. I’ll do anything you say if you don’t let her die. You took the baby but don’t let her die. That was all right but don’t let her die. Please, please, dear God, don’t let her die.”

(Chapter 41) (Lieutenant Frederic Henry)

“But after I had got them out and shut the door and turned off the lights it wasn’t any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.”

(Chapter 41) (Lieutenant Frederic Henry)

“I saw the carriage coming. It stopped, the horse’s head hanging in the rain, and the waiter stepped out, opened his umbrella, and came toward the hotel. We met him at the door and walked out under the umbrella down the wet walk to the carriage at the curb. Water was running in the gutter.”

(Chapter 24) (Lieutenant Frederic Henry)

“That night at the hotel, in our room with the long empty hall outside and our shoes outside the door, a thick carpet on the floor of the room, outside the windows the rain falling and in the room light and pleasant and cheerful, then the light out and it exciting with smooth sheets and the bed comfortable, feeling that we had come home, feeling no longer alone, waking in the night to find the other one there, and not gone away; all other things were unreal. We slept when we were tired and if we woke the other one woke too so one was not alone. Often a man wishes to be alone and a girl wishes to be alone too and if they love each other they are jealous of that in each other, but I can truly say we never felt that. We could feel alone when we were together, alone against the others … But we were never lonely and never afraid when we were together. I know that the night is not the same as the day: that all things are different, that the things of the night cannot be explained in the day, because they do not then exist, and the night can be a dreadful time for lonely people once their loneliness has started. But with Catherine there was almost no difference in the night except that it was an even better time. If people bring so much courage to the world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

(Chapter 34) (Lieutenant Frederic Henry)