# Quote — Max Brooks, World War Z

> I wonder what future generations will say about us. My grandparents suffered through the Depression, World War II, then came home to build the greatest middle class in human history. Lord knows they weren't perfect, but they sure came closest to the American dream. Then my parents' generation came along and fucked it all up--the baby boomers, the "me" generation. And then you got us. Yeah, we stopped the zombie menace, but we're the ones who let it become a menace in the first place. At least we're cleaning up our own mess, and maybe that's the best epitaph to hope for: "Generation Z, they cleaned up their own mess."

- Author: [Max Brooks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks.md)
- Book: [World War Z](https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/world-war-z.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/World_War_Z#Part_VIII:_Good-Byes) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/world-war-z/i-wonder-what

## More from this book

> We were in Hammond, Indiana, scouting defenses for the siege of Chicago. He spied a house at the end of a deserted street, completely intact except for boarded up windows and a crashed-in front door. He got a look on his face, a grin. We should have known way before he dropped out of formation, before we heard the shot. He was sitting in the living room, in this worn, old easy chair, SIR between his knees, that smile still on his face. I looked up at the pictures on the mantlepiece. It was his home.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/world-war-z/we-were-in-hammond.md)

> For the first time in history, we faced an enemy that was actively waging total war. They had no limits of endurance. They would never negotiate, never surrender. They would fight until the very end because, unlike us, every single one of them, every second of every day, was devoted to consuming all life on Earth. That's the kind of enemy we had waiting for us beyond the Rockies. That's the kind of war we had to fight.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/world-war-z/for-the-first.md)

> The Hospital.. that was our shining moment... the Hospital. [...] An advance team broke through without realizing what was on the other side. They could have withdrawn, blown the tunnel, sealed them in again... One squad against three hundred zombies. One squad led by my baby brother. His voice was the last thing we heard before their radio went silent. His last words: "On ne passe pas!"

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/world-war-z/the-hospital-that.md)