How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
You keep your ideals just so long as they don't cost me my life. And they say but surely life isn't as important as principle. Then you say oh no? Maybe not yours but mine is. What the hell is principle? Name it and you can have it. (10.13)
Sure, it's easy to say that there are principles worth dying for, right? Joe is challenging us to imagine what that kind of sacrifice would actually entail when the gun is pointed at us.
Quote #8
You can always hear the people who are willing to sacrifice somebody else's life. (10.14)
In the same vein as the last quote, we can always talk about dying for our country or dying for liberty, but what does that mean when the living are the ones saying it, and the dead are the ones who actually did it? This idea is important in light of what Joe says later about speaking for the dead (see 10.18).
Quote #9
So did all those kids die thinking of democracy and freedom and liberty and honor and the safety of the home and the stars and stripes forever?
[…] They died moaning and sighing for life. (10.19-21)
We're going to be bold and suggest that this quote really gets to the heart of the book, or at least that it pretty succinctly sums up one of the novel's main points. On the one hand, there is this idea of war as a glorious and noble act of sacrifice; on the other hand, it is unnecessary suffering and death where there could have been life. Joe's point is that when it comes down to it, many soldiers will have found themselves misled about what they were fighting for.