A Farewell to Arms Quotes
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Source: A Farewell to Arms
Author: Ernest Hemingway
"The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places."
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 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.
Context
Gee, bummer much?
Imagine Frederic, the star of A Farewell to Arms, lying in bed with his ladylove Catherine in Stresa. Sounds romantic, right?
Well, not so much.
Frederic has just escaped from the army where he was captured by Italians who thought he and his men were Germans in disguise. While still on the run, Frederic is able to enjoy some time with the woman he loves before his troubles catch up to him.
Which is precisely his point. Sure, the moment's nice, but it's fleeting. All things go south in the end.
Where you've heard it
Your friendly neighborhood negative Nancy is the one from whom you're most likely to hear this line. You know who we're talking about: she's got black hair, a black heart, and pretty much thinks we're all doomed to suffer at the hands of cruel fate.
Either that, or you've heard it from the college freshman who thinks he's discovered the profound truth of the universe when he had to read Hemingway for his English 101 class.
And now he won't stop quoting it. Ever.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
If there were a pessimism scale we'd give this quote an Eeyore.
Needless to say, it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, so quoting it word for word is going to up that pretentious rating a bit.