E M Forster Quotes
'A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself'
'At night, when the curtains are drawn and the fire flickers, my books attain a collective dignity.'
'At the side of the everlasting why, is a yes, and a yes, and a yes.'
'Charm, in most men and nearly all women, is a decoration.'
'Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him.'
'England has always been disinclined to accept human nature.'
'History develops, art stands still.'
'I am certainly an ought and not a must.'
'I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars'
'I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country'
'I'm a holy man minus the holiness.'
'Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice.'
'No man can be an agnostic who has a sense of humour.'
'Nonsense and beauty have close connections.'
'One is certain of nothing but the truth of one's own emotions.'
'Paganism is infectious, more infectious than diphtheria or piety.'
'Reverence is fatal to literature.'
'Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.'
'The four characteristics of humanism are curiosity, a free mind, belief in good taste, and belief in the human race.'
'The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death'
'The more highly public life is organized the lower does its morality sink'
'The sort of poetry I seek resides in objects man can't touch.'
'Think before you speak is criticism's motto; speak before you think, creation's.'
'Unless we remember we cannot understand.'
'We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand.'
'What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote.'
Born in Clapham, London
Died in Coventry, West Midlands
More about E M Forster
Links:
http://www.online-literature.com/forster/ Biography
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