1. Ways to Avoid Quote Toothpicks
How to properly introduce quotes
Ways to Avoid Quote Toothpicks
A quote toothpick is a quote that is stabbed into the paragraph without being properly introduced.

2. Example of a quote toothpick:
Remarque makes a powerful antiwar statement by highlighting the similarities between the German protagonists and their alleged enemies. “We are here to protect our fatherland. And the French are over there to protect their fatherland. Now who’s in the right?” (203). This emphasizes the subjectivity of war: both sides think they are right. He is questioning…. [continue analysis]

3. Example of a quote that is properly introduced (with context):
A way that Remarque demonstrates the similarities between the German protagonists and their alleged enemies is through conversations Paul and his friends have. They are discussing the causes of war after another agonizing battle and Kropp conjectures, “We are here to protect our fatherland. And the French are over there to protect their fatherland. Now who’s in the right?” (203). Kropp is emphasizing the subjectivity of war: both sides think they are right. He is questioning … [continue analysis]

4. What if the quote is not actually spoken?
Good question. This is important to realize.
Do not say a character said something if he or she didn’t actually say it.
There are many ways to use quotes that are not actually spoken by a character.
Here are some examples:

5. One option: lead directly into the quote by integrating it into your sentence.
When the new recruits come to Paul’s camp, they “are already being issued with gas masks and coffee” (35). The juxtaposition of gas masks and coffee highlights how constant and daily the threat of death is while at the front.
After a ferocious battle in which injured horses are screaming, the boys are almost comforted when there are “only again the rockets, the singing of the shells and the stars there—most strange” (64)

6. Another option: Use other verbs such as sees, experiences, observes, reflects, realizes, etc.
Choose your words accurately depending on the situation of the quote.
Paul reflects, “That is our sole ambition: to knock the conceit out of a postman” (89).
After his interactions with the Russian POWs, Paul realizes, “A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends” (193-4).

7. Another option: Use other verbs such as sees, experiences, observes, reflects, realizes, etc.
At the front, Paul experiences the madness of war: “We are swept forward again, powerless, madly savage and raging; we will kill, for they are still our mortal enemies, their rifles and bombs are aimed against us, and if we don’t destroy them, they will destroy us” (115).
When Kat dies, Paul asks himself, "Do I walk? Have I feet still? I raise my eyes, I let them move round, and turn myself with them, one circle, one circle, and I stand in the midst. All is as usual. Only the Militiaman Stanislaus Katczinsky has died. Then I know nothing more“ (291).