Only a writer who has the sense of evil can make goodness readable. E. M. Forster More Quotes by E. M. Forster More Quotes From E. M. Forster So, two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. E. M. Forster democracies-havecheertwo The woman who can't influence her husband to vote the way she wants ought to be ashamed of herself. E. M. Forster husbandliteraturewant Logic! Good gracious! What rubbish! E. M. Forster rubbishlogicliterature Tolerance is a very dull virtue. It is boring. Unlike love, it has always had a bad press. It is negative. It merely means putting up with people, being able to stand things. E. M. Forster lovemeanpeople For a wonderful physical tie binds the parents to the children; and - by some sad, strange irony - it does not bind us children to our parents. For if it did, if we could answer their love not with gratitude but with equal love, life would lose much of its pathos and much of its squalor, and we might be wonderfully happy. E. M. Forster love-lifegratitudechildren The bully and his victim never quite forget their first relations. E. M. Forster bullyforgetfirsts I would rather be a coward than brave because people hurt you when you are brave. E. M. Forster hurtfearpeople I have almost completed a long novel, but it is unpublishable until my death and England's. E. M. Forster novelenglandlong He educated Maurice, or rather his spirit educated Maurice's spirit, for they themselves became equal. Neither thought "Am I led; am I leading?" Love had caught him out of triviality and Maurice out of bewilderment in order that two imperfect souls might touch perfection. E. M. Forster perfectiontwoorder Only a struggle twists sentimentality and lust together into love. E. M. Forster luststruggletogether This solitude opressed her; she was accustomed to have her thoughts confirmed by others or, at all events, contradicted; it was too dreadful not to know whether she was thinking right or wrong. E. M. Forster eventssolitudethinking It was unbearable, and he thought again, 'How unhappy I am!' and became happier. E. M. Forster unbearableunhappy I am certainly an ought and not a must. E. M. Forster oughtliterature He stretched out his hands as he sang, sadly, because all beauty is sad…The poem had done no ‘good’ to anyone, but it was a passing reminder, a breath from the divine lips of beauty, a nightingale between two worlds of dust. Less explicit than the call to Krishna, it voiced our loneliness nevertheless, our isolation, our need for the Friend who never comes yet is not entirely disproved. E. M. Forster dustlonelinesshands Life's very difficult and full of surprises. At all events, I've got as far as that. To be humble and kind, to go straight ahead, to love people rather than pity them, to remember the submerged - well, one can't do all these things at once, worse luck, because they're so contradictory. It's then that proportion comes in - to live by proportion. Don't begin with proportion. Only prigs do that. Let proportion come in as a last resource, when the better things have failed. E. M. Forster luckhumblepeople But nothing in India is identifiable, the mere asking of a question causes it to disappear or to merge in something else. E. M. Forster indialiteratureasking You do care a little for me, I know... but nothing to speak of, and you don't love me. I was yours once till death if you'd cared to keep me, but I'm someone else's now... and he's mine in a way that shocks you, but why don't you stop being shocked, and attend to your own happiness. E. M. Forster carelittlesway What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives? They have never entered into mine, but into yours, we thought--Haven't we all to struggle against life's daily greyness, against pettiness, against mechanical cheerfulness, against suspicion? I struggle by remembering my friends; others I have known by remembering some place--some beloved place or tree--we thought you one of these. E. M. Forster starsstrugglewind I believe in teaching people to be individuals, and to understand other individuals. E. M. Forster teachingbelievepeople It's not what people do to you, but what they mean, that hurts. E. M. Forster hurtmeanpeople
