Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

E. M. Forster Novelist

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: England
  • Born: Jan 1, 1879
  • Died: Jun 7, 1970

Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. Forster's humanistic impulse toward understanding and sympathy may be aptly summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel Howards End: "Only connect ... ". His 1908 novel, A Room with a View, is his most optimistic work, while A Passage to India brought him his greatest success.

Love is always being given where it is not required. love

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

To make us feel small in the right way is a function of art men can only make us feel small in the wrong way. art

The sadness of the incomplete, the sadness that is often Life, but should never be Art. art

Nonsense and beauty have close connections. beauty

I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars. mom

People have their own deaths as well as their own lives, and even if there is nothing beyond death, we shall differ in our nothingness. death

Charm, in most men and nearly all women, is a decoration. women

One of the evils of money is that it tempts us to look at it rather than at the things that it buys. money

I have no mystic faith in the people. I have in the individual. faith

The people I respect most behave as if they were immortal and as if society was eternal. respect & society

Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him. death

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. life

A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself. poetry

One is certain of nothing but the truth of one's own emotions. truth

If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country. hope

Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch. faith

What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives? good & nature

History develops, art stands still. art & history

The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death. death, food, life & love

The sort of poetry I seek resides in objects man can't touch. poetry

One must be fond of people and trust them if one is not to make a mess of life. trust

England has always been disinclined to accept human nature. nature

The work of art assumes the existence of the perfect spectator, and is indifferent to the fact that no such person exists. art & work

Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life. courage

What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote. great

Christmas December 25, 2024

Christmas is the day that holds all time together. 6 other views from Alexander Smith

6 other views from Alexander Smith

Now, the essence, the very spirit of Christmas is that we first make believe a thing is so, and lo, it presently turns out to be so. 8 other quotes from Stephen Leacock

8 other quotes from Stephen Leacock

A good conscience is a continual Christmas. 96 other quotes from Benjamin Franklin

96 other quotes from Benjamin Franklin

Christmas carols always brought tears to my eyes. I also cry at weddings. I should have cried at a couple of my own. 9 more views from Ethel Merman

9 more views from Ethel Merman