There are moments when the inner life actually ‘pays,’ when years of self-scrutiny, conducted for no ulterior motive, are suddenly of practical use.
E. M. FORSTERInside its cocoon of work or social obligation, the human spirit slumbers for the most part, registering the distinction between pleasure and pain, but not nearly as alert as we pretend.
More E. M. Forster Quotes
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We move between two darknesses.
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Think before you speak is criticism’s motto; speak before you think, creation’s.
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The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.
E. M. FORSTER -
It was pleasant to wake up in Florence, to open the eyes upon a bright bare room, with a floor of red tiles which look clean though they are not; with a painted ceiling whereon pink griffins and blue amorini sport in a forest of yellow violins and bassoons.
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Life is sometimes life and sometimes only a drama, and one must learn to distinguish t’other from which . . .
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Life is a public performance on the violin, in which you must learn the instrument as you go along.
E. M. FORSTER -
She stopped and leant her elbows against the parapet of the embankment. He did likewise. There is at times a magic in identity of position; it is one of the things that have suggested to us eternal comradeship.
E. M. FORSTER -
We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won’t do harm – yes, choose a place where you won’t do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine.
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The armour of falsehood is subtly wrought out of darkness, and hides a man not only from others, but from his own soul.
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Mistrust all enterprises that require new clothes.
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Let yourself go. Pull out from the depths those thoughts that you do not understand, and spread them out in the sunlight and know the meaning of them.
E. M. FORSTER -
Don’t begin with proportion. Only prigs do that. Let proportion come in as a last resource, when the better things have failed.
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You confuse what’s important with what’s impressive.
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Adventures do occur, but not punctually.
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There’s never any great risk as long as you have money.
E. M. FORSTER