Just as we turn into animals when we go up to the line . . . so we turn into wags and loafers when we are resting. . . . We want to live at any price; so we cannot burden ourselves with feelings which, though they may be ornamental enough in peacetime, would be out of place here. Kemmerich is dead, Haie Westhus is dying . . . Martens has no legs anymore, Meyer is dead, Max is dead, Beyer is dead, Hammerling is dead . . . it is a damnable business, but what has it to do with us now—we live.
Periodically throughout the novel Paul compares himself and soldiers in general to beast and or animals. When he says "just as we turn into animals when we go up to the line" he is basically saying if you do not get aggressive and become the predator, you will become the prey. It is necessary at times to get ride of all human emotion besides anger in life or death situations to survive in warfare as Paul says in the book "turn on beast mode". It is interesting to observe how Paul is such a nice and content person, not the kind of person you would think of being in the army if you were passing by him on the street. If you observed him on the front the while fighting for his life and with him in a neutral territory when in no danger for example at home you would think he was a whole another person. Even though the Germans did not win the war due to Americans joining in on the French side, i think they would of if America did not intrude in on the war.
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