Erich Maria Remarque. The life of a loan (№ 412596)

I have to fight the shadow, the invisible, the man who is not here and who, because of this, looms everywhere and is invulnerable; he is a hundred times stronger than me because he is not, he is sinless because he is not, he is perfection because he is not, he has a terrifying advantage - he is absent, and this gives him the strongest weapon against me. And I'm here, and you see me for who I really am, the way I am now, you see how I get out of myself, how unfair I am (call it that), how petty and stupid I am. And in contrast to me, you have his grandiose ideal image in front of you; he is not wrong because he does nothing and says nothing, and it is as useless to fight as it is useless to fight the memories of the dead.