E. M. Forster quotes - page 6

No man can be an agnostic who has a sense of humour. (E. M. Forster)
For our vanity is such that we hold our own characters immutable, and we are slow to acknowledge that they have changed, even for the better. View quote
E. M. Forster
The crime of suicide lies rather in its disregard for the feelings of those whom we leave behind. View quote
E. M. Forster
Paganism is infectious, more infectious than diphtheria or piety. View quote
E. M. Forster
I'd far rather leave a thought behind me than a child. Other people can have children. View quote
E. M. Forster
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. View quote
E. M. Forster
Beauty ought to look a little surprised: it is the emotion that best suits her face. The beauty who does not look surprised, who accepts her position as her due - she reminds us too much of a prima donna. View quote
E. M. Forster
Those who prepared for all the emergencies of life beforehand may equip themselves at the expense of joy. View quote
E. M. Forster
I am an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort. View quote
E. M. Forster
The historian must have some conception of how men who are not historians behave. Otherwise he will move in a world of the dead. He can only gain that conception through personal experience, and he can only use his personal experiences when he is a genius. View quote
E. M. Forster
The advance of regret can be so gradual that it is impossible to say "yesterday I was happy, today I am not. (E. M. Forster)
I am so used to seeing the sort of play which deals with one man and two women. They do not leave me with the feeling I have made a full theatrical meal they do not give me the experience of the multiplicity of life. View quote
E. M. Forster
I never could get on with representative individuals but people who existed on their own account and with whom it might therefore be possible to be friends. View quote
E. M. Forster
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. View quote
E. M. Forster
Passion should believe itself irresistible. It should forget civility and consideration and all the other curses of a refined nature. Above all, it should never ask for leave where there is a right of way. View quote
E. M. Forster
A work of art is never finished. It is merely abandoned. View quote
E. M. Forster
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. View quote
E. M. Forster
Be soft, even if you stand to get squashed. View quote
E. M. Forster
Oxford is Oxford: not a mere receptacle for youth, like Cambridge. Perhaps it wants its inmates to love it rather than to love one another. View quote
E. M. Forster
Surely the only sound foundation for a civilization is a sound state of mind. View quote
E. M. Forster
One marvels why the middle classes still insist on so much discomfort for their children at such expense to themselves. (E. M. Forster)
Logic! Good gracious! What rubbish! View quote
E. M. Forster
The sadness of the incomplete, the sadness that is often Life, but should never be Art. View quote
E. M. Forster
But nothing in India is identifiable, the mere asking of a question causes it to disappear or to merge in something else. View quote
E. M. Forster
Only a struggle twists sentimentality and lust together into love. View quote
E. M. Forster