All Quiet on the Western Front Quotes
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Three years we've had of it, four years! And every day a year, and every night a century! And our bodies are earth, and our thoughts are clay, and we sleep and eat with death! And we're done for because you can't live that way and keep anything inside you!
Context
This line is spoken by Paul Bäumer, played by Lewis Ayres, in the film All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Lewis Milestone (1930).
Most people hate being called on in front of the class. It's even worse if your professor wants you to talk about how amazing it is to fight and die for your country, when in fact you don't think it's honorable in the slightest.
That's what Professor Kantorek does to Paul Bäumer, the protagonist of All Quiet on the Western Front. When he tells Paul to say "what it means to serve your Fatherland," Paul isn't going to spout any patriotic mumbo-jumbo. He tells him what he has learned about war: that it's bloody, brutal, and awful.
Where you've heard it
You've heard this from someone who doesn't want to glamorize war, but wants to convey how horrific it actually is. This fits in well when talking about how it's easy for politicians and other officials to send people to war, then sit back and watch them die.
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.
You're only allowed to say this if you are a war veteran or someone who has otherwise risked his or her life for someone else's cause. If not… well, what kind of party are you having where you'd say this? If you're having a World War I Trench Warfare-themed party, go ahead, say whatever you want; that party couldn't get any more pretentious (or offensive).