E. M. Forster Quotes - Page 16

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The story of the Fall always fascinates me as a play ground, but I cannot find any profound meaning in it, because of my 'liberal' view of human nature: I cannot believe in a state of original innocence, still less in a profound meaning in it, and I am always minimising the conception and the extent of Sin and the sinfulness of sex.

E. M. Forster

Sex, Believe, Fall

Selected Letters (1983-1985): Letter 396, to Eric Fletcher, July 9, 1951.

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As for 'story' I never yet did enjoy a novel or play in which someone didn't tell me afterward that there was something wrong with the story, so that's going to be no drawback as far as I'm concerned. "Good Lord, why am I so bored" "I know; it must be the plot developing harmoniously." So I often reply to myself, and there rises before me my special nightmare that of the writer as craftsman, natty and deft.

E. M. Forster

Play, Bored, Special

Selected Letters (1983-1985): Letter 104, to Forrest Reid, June 19, 1912.

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Before the civil war, Pottibakia was a normal member of the Comity of Nations. She erected tariff walls, broke treaties, persecuted minorities, obstructed at conferences unless she was convinced there was no danger of a satisfactory solution; then she strained every nerve in the cause of peace.

E. M. Forster

Wall, War, Nerves

"The Life to Come (and Other Stories)". Book by E. M. Forster, 1972.

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A mirror does not develop because an historical pageant passes in front of it. It only develops when it gets a fresh coat of quicksilver in other words, when it acquires new sensitiveness; and the novel's success lies in its own sensitiveness, not in the success of its subject matter.

E. M. Forster

Lying, Mirrors, Historical

E. M. Forster (2010). “Aspects of the Novel”, p.38, RosettaBooks

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Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas! we return.

E. M. Forster

Travel, Adventure, Sunshine

Howards End ch. 2 (1910)

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This element of surprise or mystery the detective element as it is sometimes rather emptily called is of great importance in a plot.

E. M. Forster

Plot, Elements, Detectives

E. M. Forster (2010). “Aspects of the Novel”, p.132, RosettaBooks

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A work of art is never finished. It is merely abandoned.

E. M. Forster

Art, Science, Abandoned

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God is not Love in the East. He is Power, although Mercy may temper it.

E. M. Forster

Love, God, Power

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The Germans are called brutal, the Spanish cruel, the Americans superficial, and so on; but we are perfide Albion, the island of hypocrites, the people who have built up an Empire with a Bible in one hand, a pistol in the other, and financial concessions in both pockets. Is the charge true? I think it is.

E. M. Forster

Hypocrite, Thinking, Islands

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One minute. You know nothing about him. He probably has his own joys and interests- wife, children, snug little home. That's where we practical fellows'- he smiled-'are more tolerant than you intellectuals. We live and let live, and assume that things are jogging on fairly well elsewhere, and that the ordinary plain man may be trusted to look after his own affairs.

E. M. Forster

Children, Home, Men

E.M. Forster “Howards End”, Рипол Классик

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I am so used to seeing the sort of play which deals with one man and two women. They do not leave me with the feeling I have made a full theatrical meal they do not give me the experience of the multiplicity of life.

E. M. Forster

Men, Two, Play

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An acquaintance had become a lover, might become a husband, but would retain all that she had noted in the acquaintance; and love must confirm an old relation rather than reveal a new one.

E. M. Forster

Husband, And Love, Might

E. M. Forster (2016). “Howards End: England Literature”, p.151, 谷月社

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She would only point out the salvation that was latent in his own soul, and in the soul of every man. Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die.

E. M. Forster

Love, Passion, Men

Howards End (1910) ch. 22 (the title-page also has "Only connect...")

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There's enough sorrow in the world, isn't there, without trying to invent it.

E. M. Forster

Sorrow, Trying, World

E. M. Forster (2013). “Delphi Collected Works of E. M. Forster (Illustrated)”, p.371, Delphi Classics

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She only felt that the candle would burn better, the packing go easier, the world be happier, if she could give and receive some human love.

E. M. Forster

Giving, World, Easier

E.M. Forster (2012). “A Room with a View”, p.62, Courier Corporation

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Passion should believe itself irresistible. It should forget civility and consideration and all the other curses of a refined nature. Above all, it should never ask for leave where there is a right of way.

E. M. Forster

Believe, Passion, Way

E. M. Forster (2013). “Delphi Collected Works of E. M. Forster (Illustrated)”, p.435, Delphi Classics

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Self-pity? I see no moral objections to it, the smell drives people away, but that's a practical objection, and occasionally an advantage.

E. M. Forster

Self, Smell, People

"Commonplace Book". Book by E. M. Forster, 1985.

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Born: January 1, 1879
Died: June 7, 1970
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

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