A Farewell to Arms Quotes

Context

Passini, the resident pacifist of A Farewell to Arms, has a bone to pick with this whole war business.

Here's the sitch: we're in Chapter 9, and Mr. Henry is having a conversation with some of his ambulance crew during their deployment toward an expected attack by the river.

Henry thinks that the only thing worse than war is defeat. Passini, however, disagrees. He just wants the war to end and wishes Italy was the one that would stop the fighting. This quote is Passini's reply to Mr. Henry's argument.

Where you've heard it

This quote is a favorite of war critics. No need to explain further, Shmoopthinks.

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.

The pretentiousness of this puppy really depends a lot on who's saying it.

If you've actually seen combat, you can pretty much say whatever you want.