E. M. Forster quotes - page 11

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. (E. M. Forster)
So two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. Two cheers are quite enough: there is no occasion to give three. View quote
E. M. Forster
This woman was a goddess to the end. For her no love could be degrading: she stood outside all degradation. View quote
E. M. Forster
It looks as if there is a physical as well as a moral break in the orders I send out. I have plenty of interesting thoughts but keep losing them like the post cards I have written, or like my cap. View quote
E. M. Forster
Only connect! View quote
E. M. Forster
On they go - an invincible army, yet not a victorious one. The aristocrats, the elect, the chosen, the Best People - all the words that describe them are false, and all attempts to organize them fail. View quote
E. M. Forster
I realize that all society rests upon force. But all the great creative actions, all the decent human relations, occur during the intervals when force has not managed to come to the front. These intervals are what matter. I want them to be as frequent and as lengthy as possible, and I call them "civilization". View quote
E. M. Forster
Her idea of business - "Henry, why do people who have enough money try to get more money?" Her idea of politics - "I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars," Her idea of religion - ah, this had been a cloud, but a cloud that passed. View quote
E. M. Forster
I never expect anything to happen now, and so I am never disappointed. You would be surprised to know what my great events are. Going to the theatre yesterday, talking to you now - I don't suppose I shall ever meet anything greater. View quote
E. M. Forster
Most of us will be eclectics to this side or that according to our temperament. The human mind is not a dignified organ, and I do not see how we can exercise it sincerely except through eclecticism. View quote
E. M. Forster
Certainly it is presumptuous to say that we cannot improve, and that Man, who has only been in power for a few thousand years, will never learn to make use of his power. All I mean is that, if people continue to kill one another as they do, the world cannot get better than it is, and that, since there are more people than formerly, and their means for destroying one another superior, the world may well get worse. What is good in people - and consequently in the world - is their insistence on creation, their belief in friendship and loyalty for their own sakes; and, though Violence remains and is, indeed, the major partner in this muddled establishment, I believe that creativeness remains too, and will always assume direction when violence sleeps. (E. M. Forster)
What I want, I think, is the sentimental, but the sentimental reached by no easy beaten track. View quote
E. M. Forster
The Saviour of the future - if ever he comes - will not preach a new Gospel. He will merely utilize my aristocracy, he will make effective the goodwill and the good temper which are already existing. View quote
E. M. Forster
A man does not talk to himself quite truly - not even to himself: the happiness or misery that he secretly feels proceeds from causes that he cannot quite explain, because as soon as he raises them to the level of the explicable they lose their native quality. View quote
E. M. Forster
I am the means and not the end. I am the food and not the life. View quote
E. M. Forster
Tolerance, good temper and sympathy are no longer enough in a world where ignorance rules, and Science, which ought to have ruled, plays the pimp. Tolerance, good temper and sympathy - they are what matter really, and if the human race is not to collapse they must come to the front before long. View quote
E. M. Forster
They are sensitive for others as well as for themselves, they are considerate without being fussy, their pluck is not swankiness but the power to endure, and they can take a joke. View quote
E. M. Forster
If human nature does alter it will be because individuals manage to look at themselves in a new way. Here and there people - a very few people, but a few novelists are among them - are trying to do this. View quote
E. M. Forster
She might yet be able to help him to the building of the rainbow bridge that should connect the prose in us with the passion. Without it we are meaningless fragments, half monks, half beasts, unconnected arches that have never joined into a man. View quote
E. M. Forster
She could not explain in so many words, but she felt that those who prepare for all the emergencies of life beforehand may equip themselves at the expense of joy. View quote
E. M. Forster
After all, is not a real Hell better than a manufactured Heaven? (E. M. Forster)
I swear from the bottom of my heart I want to be healed. I want to be like other men, not this outcast whom nobody wants. View quote
E. M. Forster
I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows. View quote
E. M. Forster
Because I say so little you think I don't feel. I care a lot. View quote
E. M. Forster
I suppose I shall have to live now. View quote
E. M. Forster