I have no mystic faith in the people. I have in the individual.
E. M. FORSTERI have no mystic faith in the people. I have in the individual.
E. M. FORSTERI cannot help thinking that there is something to admire in everyone, even if you do not approve of them.
E. M. FORSTERMy temple stands not upon Mount Moriah but in the Elysian Field where even the immoral are admitted. My motto is ‘Lord, I disbelieve – help thou my unbelief.
E. M. FORSTERMost of life is so dull that there is nothing to be said about it, and the books and talks that would describe it as interesting are obliged to exaggerate, in the hope of justifying their own existence.
E. M. FORSTERWhat is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote.
E. M. FORSTEROne grows accustomed to being praised, or being blamed, or being advised, but it is unusual to be understood.
E. M. FORSTERLove is a great force in private life; it is indeed the greatest of all things; but love in public affairs does not work.
E. M. FORSTERAdventures do occur, but not punctually.
E. M. FORSTERNonsense and beauty have close connections.
E. M. FORSTERMy conviction gains infinitely the moment another soul will believe in it.
E. M. FORSTERI think you’re beautiful, the only beautiful person I’ve ever seen. I love your voice and everything to do with you, down to your clothes or the room you are sitting in. I adore you.
E. M. FORSTERThe final test for a novel will be our affection for it, as it is the test of our friends, and of anything else which we cannot define.
E. M. FORSTERBooks have to be read it is the only way of discovering what they contain.
E. M. FORSTERThink before you speak is criticism’s motto; speak before you think, creation’s.
E. M. FORSTERWhat is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?
E. M. FORSTERDo we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there?
E. M. FORSTER