E. M. Forster Quotes - Page 15

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It is the starved imagination, not the well nourished, that is afraid.

E. M. Forster

Imagination, Wells

E. M. Forster (2012). “Howards End”, p.144, Courier Corporation

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A critic has no right to the narrowness which is the frequent prerogative of the creative artist.

E. M. Forster

Artist, Creative, Criticism

E. M. Forster (2010). “Aspects of the Novel”, p.19, RosettaBooks

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The novel is a formidable mass, and it is so amorphous - no mountain in it to climb, no Parnassus or Helicon, not even a Pisgah. It is most distinctly one of the moister areas of literature - irrigated by a hundred rills and occasionally degenerating into a swamp. I do not wonder that the poets despise it, though they sometimes find themselves in it by accident. And I am not surprised at the annoyance of the historians when by accident it finds itself among them.

E. M. Forster

Writing, Mountain, Literature

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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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Sex begins before adolescence, and survives sterility; it is indeed coeval with our lives, although at the mating age its effects are more obvious to Society.

E. M. Forster

Sex, Age, Mating

E. M. Forster (2010). “Aspects of the Novel”, p.78, RosettaBooks

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Pity wraps the student of the past in an ambrosial cloud, and washes his limbs with eternal youth.

E. M. Forster

Past, Clouds, Students

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A novel is based on evidence, + or -x, the unknown quantity being the temperament of the novelist, and the unknown quantity always modifies the effect of the evidence, and sometimes transforms it entirely.

E. M. Forster

Novelists, Fiction, Sometimes

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Lucy was suffering from the most grievous wrong which this world has yet discovered: diplomatic advantage had been taken of her sincerity, of her craving for sympathy and love. Such a wrong is not easily forgotten. Never again did she expose herself without due consideration and precaution against rebuff. And such a wrong may react disastrously upon the soul.

E. M. Forster

Love, Taken, Soul

E.M. Forster (2012). “A Room with a View”, p.63, Courier Corporation

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A sentence begins quite simply, then it undulates and expands, parentheses intervene like quick-set hedges, the flowers of comparison bloom, and three fields off, like a wounded partridge, crouches the principal verb, making one wonder as one picks it up, poor little thing, whether after all it was worth such a tramp, so many guns, and such expensive dogs, and what, after all, is its relation to the main subject, potted so gaily half a page back, and proving finally to have been in the accusative case.

E. M. Forster

Dog, Flower, Gun

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Intuition attracts those who wish to be spiritual without any bother, because it promises a heaven where the intuitions of others can be ignored.

E. M. Forster

Spiritual, Heaven, Promise

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The woman who can't influence her husband to vote the way she wants ought to be ashamed of herself.

E. M. Forster

Husband, Literature, Want

E.M. Forster (2015). “Howard's End”, p.206, Xist Publishing

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All that is observable in a man-that is to say his actions and such of his spiritual existence as can be deduced from his actions-falls into the domain of history.

E. M. Forster

Spiritual, Fall, Men

E. M. Forster (2010). “Aspects of the Novel”, p.73, RosettaBooks

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We are all like Scheherazade's husband, in that we want to know what happens next.

E. M. Forster

Husband, Literature, Want

E. M. Forster (2010). “Aspects of the Novel”, p.47, RosettaBooks

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It is the function of the novelist to reveal the hidden life at its source: to tell us more about Queen Victoria than could be known, and thus to produce a character who is not the Queen Victoria of history.

E. M. Forster

Queens, Character, Novelists

E. M. Forster (2010). “Aspects of the Novel”, p.72, RosettaBooks

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It is pleasant to be transferred from an office where one is afraid of a sergeant-major into an office where one can intimidate generals, and perhaps this is why history is so attractive to the more timid among us. We can recover self-confidence by snubbing the dead.

E. M. Forster

Self Confidence, History, Office

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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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There is much good luck in the world, but it is luck. We are none of us safe. We are children, playing or quarrelling on the line.

E. M. Forster

Children, Good Luck, Literature

'The Longest Journey' (1907) ch. 12

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It is obvious enough for the reader to conclude, "She loves young Emerson." A reader in Lucy's place would not find it obvious. Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice, and we welcome "nerves" or any other shibboleth that will cloak our personal desire. She loved Cecil; George made her nervous; will the reader explain to her that the phrases should have been reversed?

E. M. Forster

Should Have, Practice, Desire

E. M. Forster (2013). “Delphi Collected Works of E. M. Forster (Illustrated)”, p.463, Delphi Classics

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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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Men were not gods after all, but as human and as clumsy as girls.

E. M. Forster

Girl, Men, Room With A View

E.M. Forster (2012). “A Room with a View”, p.125, Courier Corporation

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Letters have to pass two tests before they can be classed as good: they must express the personality both of the writer and of the recipient.

E. M. Forster

Two, Personality, Letters

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He had known so much about her once -what she thought, how she felt, the reasons for her actions. And now he only knew that he loved her, and all the other knowledge seemed passing from him just as he needed it most.

E. M. Forster

Action, Reason, Passing

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You talk as if a god had made the Machine," cried the other. "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that. Great men, but men. The Machine is much, but not everything.

E. M. Forster

Believe, Men, Unhappy

E. M. Forster (2015). “The Machine Stops”, p.5, Simon and Schuster

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Only people who have been allowed to practise freedom can have the grown-up look in their eyes.

E. M. Forster

Eye, People, Looks

E.M. Forster (1951). “Two Cheers for Democracy”

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He had shown her all the workings of his soul, mistaking this for love.

E. M. Forster

Inspirational, Inspiring, Soul

E. M. Forster (2015). “The Longest Journey”, p.246, Booklassic

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E. M. Forster

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

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