E. M. Forster Quotes

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

Life, Waiting, Willing

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

Mom, Mothers, Sure

Quote

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

Life, Trust, Mess

What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?
E. M. Forster

Nature, Good, Sunrise

Love is always being given where it is not required.
E. M. Forster

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

Life, Love, Food

The four characteristics of humanism are curiosity, a free mind, belief in good taste, and belief in the human race.
E. M. Forster

Good, Mind, Human

Think before you speak is criticism's motto; speak before you think, creation's.
E. M. Forster

Before, Motto, Speak

Tolerance is a very dull virtue. It is boring. Unlike love, it has always had a bad press. It is negative. It merely means putting up with people, being able to stand things.
E. M. Forster

Love, Bad, Boring

One always tends to overpraise a long book, because one has got through it.
E. M. Forster

Long, Book, Through

Unless we remember we cannot understand.
E. M. Forster

Remember, Understand, Cannot

We are willing enough to praise freedom when she is safely tucked away in the past and cannot be a nuisance. In the present, amidst dangers whose outcome we cannot foresee, we get nervous about her, and admit censorship.
E. M. Forster

Freedom, Past, Enough

History develops, art stands still.
E. M. Forster

History, Art, Stands

The fact is we can only love what we know personally. And we cannot know much. In public affairs, in the rebuilding of civilization, something less dramatic and emotional is needed, namely tolerance.
E. M. Forster

Love, Emotional, Cannot

Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.
E. M. Forster

Long, Nothing, Run

So, two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism.
E. M. Forster

Democracy, Two, Criticism

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.
E. M. Forster

Good, Children, Luck

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

Great, Wonderful, Literature

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

Poetry, True, Nothing

At night, when the curtains are drawn and the fire flickers, my books attain a collective dignity.
E. M. Forster

Fire, Night, Books

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

Women, Men, Charm

How can I know what I think till I see what I say?
E. M. Forster

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.
E. M. Forster

Hope, Hate, Friend

Only a struggle twists sentimentality and lust together into love.
E. M. Forster

Love, Struggle, Together

The woman who can't influence her husband to vote the way she wants ought to be ashamed of herself.
E. M. Forster

Husband, Woman, Vote

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Biography

Nationality: English

Born: January 1, 1879

Died: June 7, 1970

Links

Find on Amazon: E. M. Forster

Cite this Page: Citation

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