Characters must not brood too long. They must not waste time running up and down ladders in their own insides. E. M. Forster More Quotes by E. M. Forster More Quotes From E. M. Forster How do I know what I have to say wntil I see what I have said? E. M. Forster knowssaid I distrust Great Men... I believe in aristocracy, though... Its members are to be found in all nations and classes, and all through the ages, and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet... 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. E. M. Forster classmenbelieve The people I respect most behave as if they were immortal and as if society was eternal. Both assumptions are false: both of them must be accepted as true if we are to go on eating and working and loving, and are to keep open a few breathing holes for the human spirit. E. M. Forster breathinggoes-onpeople But I have seen my obstacles: trivialities, learning and poetry. This last needs explaining: the old artist's readiness to dissolve characters into a haze. Characters cannot come alive and fight and guide the world unless the novelist wants them to remain characters. E. M. Forster fightingartistcharacter 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 believesexfall 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 boredspecialplay 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 wallnerveswar 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 historicalmirrorslying The middle age of buggers is not to be contemplated without horror. E. M. Forster middlehorrorage The book [ A Passage to India ] shows signs of fatigue and disillusionment; but it has chapters of clear and triumphant beauty, and above all it makes us wonder, what will he write next? E. M. Forster indiawritingbook One can run away from women, turn them out, or give in to them. No fourth course. E. M. Forster turnsrunninggiving No disease of the imagination is so difficult to cure, as that which is complicated with the dread of guilt : fancy and conscience then act interchangeably upon us, and so often shift their places, that the illusions of one are not distinguished from the dictates of the other. E. M. Forster diseaseguiltimagination 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 smellselfpeople All this fame and money, which have so thrilled me when they came to others, leave me cold when they come to me. I am not an ascetic, but I don't know what to do with them, and my daily life has never been so trying, and there is no one to fill it emotionally. E. M. Forster daily-lifecoldtrying One has two duties - to be worried and not to be worried. E. M. Forster worriedlifetwo Even a fellow with a camera has his favourite subjects, as we can see looking through the Kodak-albums of our friends. One amateur prefers the family group, another bathing scenes, another cows upon an alp, or kittens held upside down in the arms of a black-faced child. The tendency to choose one subject rather than another indicates the photographer's temperament. Nevertheless, his passion is for photography rather than for selection, a kitten will serve when no cows are available. E. M. Forster passionphotographychildren Ah, but you see, I didn't want to be fair. E. M. Forster languagewantbook Freedom does not guarantee masterpieces. E. M. Forster masterpieceguaranteesdoe Ulysses ... is a dogged attempt to cover the universe with mud, an inverted Victorianism, an attempt to make crossness and dirt succeed where sweetness and light failed, a simplification of the human character in the interests of Hell. E. M. Forster lightdogcharacter Some reviews give pain. This is regrettable, but no author has the right to whine. He was not obliged to be an author. He invited publicity, and he must take the publicity that comes along. E. M. Forster publicitypaingiving
