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Top 500 E. M. Forster Quotes (2025 Update)
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E. M. Forster Quote: “The ethereal past had blinded him, and the highest happiness he could dream was a return to it.”

301. “The ethereal past had blinded him, and the highest happiness he could dream was a return to it.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Love is the best, and the more she let herself love him, the more chance was there that he would set his soul in order.”

302. “Love is the best, and the more she let herself love him, the more chance was there that he would set his soul in order.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “The sort of poetry I seek resides in objects man can’t touch.”

303. “The sort of poetry I seek resides in objects man can’t touch.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Men were not gods after all, but as human and as clumsy as girls.”

304. “Men were not gods after all, but as human and as clumsy as girls.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “It never bored them to hear words, words; they breathed them with the cool night air, never stopping to analyse; the name of the poet, Hafiz, Hali, Iqbal, was sufficient guarantee. India – a hundred Indias – whispered outside beneath the indifferent moon, but for the time India seemed one and their own, and they regained their departed greatness by hearing its departure lamented, they felt young again because reminded that youth must fly.”

305. “It never bored them to hear words, words; they breathed them with the cool night air, never stopping to analyse; the name of the poet, Hafiz, Hali, Iqbal, was sufficient guarantee. India – a hundred Indias – whispered outside beneath the indifferent moon, but for the time India seemed one and their own, and they regained their departed greatness by hearing its departure lamented, they felt young again because reminded that youth must fly.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “All that is observable in a man-that is to say his actions and such of his spiritual existence as can be deduced from his actions-falls into the domain of history.”

306. “All that is observable in a man-that is to say his actions and such of his spiritual existence as can be deduced from his actions-falls into the domain of history.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “It’s not what people do to you, but what they mean, that hurts.”

307. “It’s not what people do to you, but what they mean, that hurts.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Things that are indelicate can sometimes be beautiful.”

308. “Things that are indelicate can sometimes be beautiful.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Then she lay on her back and gazed at the cloudless sky. Mr. Beebe, whose opinion of her rose daily, whispered to his niece that that was the proper way to behave if any little thing went wrong.”

309. “Then she lay on her back and gazed at the cloudless sky. Mr. Beebe, whose opinion of her rose daily, whispered to his niece that that was the proper way to behave if any little thing went wrong.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “One has two duties – to be worried and not to be worried.”

310. “One has two duties – to be worried and not to be worried.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Reformers who are obsessed with purity and cannot see that their obsession is impure.”

311. “Reformers who are obsessed with purity and cannot see that their obsession is impure.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “There’s nothing like a debate to teach one quickness. I often wish I had gone in for them when I was a youngster. It would have helped me no end.”

312. “There’s nothing like a debate to teach one quickness. I often wish I had gone in for them when I was a youngster. It would have helped me no end.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “But this time I’m not to blame; I want you to believe that. I simply slipped into those violets. No, I want to be really truthful. I am a little to blame. The sky, you know, was gold, and the ground all blue, and for a moment he looked like some one in a book.”

313. “But this time I’m not to blame; I want you to believe that. I simply slipped into those violets. No, I want to be really truthful. I am a little to blame. The sky, you know, was gold, and the ground all blue, and for a moment he looked like some one in a book.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “They must live outside class, without relations or money; they must work and stick to each other till death. But England belonged to them. That, besides companionship, was their reward. Her air and sky were theirs, not the timorous millions’ who own stuffy little boxes, but never their own souls.”

314. “They must live outside class, without relations or money; they must work and stick to each other till death. But England belonged to them. That, besides companionship, was their reward. Her air and sky were theirs, not the timorous millions’ who own stuffy little boxes, but never their own souls.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “It is pleasant to be transferred from an office where one is afraid of a sergeant-major into an office where one can intimidate generals, and perhaps this is why history is so attractive to the more timid among us. We can recover self-confidence by snubbing the dead.”

315. “It is pleasant to be transferred from an office where one is afraid of a sergeant-major into an office where one can intimidate generals, and perhaps this is why history is so attractive to the more timid among us. We can recover self-confidence by snubbing the dead.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “No man can be an agnostic who has a sense of humour.”

316. “No man can be an agnostic who has a sense of humour.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “I only wish the poets would say this too: love is of the body; not the body, but of the the body. Ah! the misery that would be saved if we confessed that! Ah! for a little directness to liberate the soul!”

317. “I only wish the poets would say this too: love is of the body; not the body, but of the the body. Ah! the misery that would be saved if we confessed that! Ah! for a little directness to liberate the soul!”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “She watched the moon, whose radiance stained with primrose the purple of the surrounding sky. In England the moon had seemed dead and alien; here she was caught in the shawl of night together with earth and all the other stars.”

318. “She watched the moon, whose radiance stained with primrose the purple of the surrounding sky. In England the moon had seemed dead and alien; here she was caught in the shawl of night together with earth and all the other stars.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Here had lived an elder race, to which we look back with disquietude. The country which we visit at week-ends was really a home to it, and the graver sides of life, the deaths, the partings, the yearnings for love, have their deepest expression in the heart of the fields.”

319. “Here had lived an elder race, to which we look back with disquietude. The country which we visit at week-ends was really a home to it, and the graver sides of life, the deaths, the partings, the yearnings for love, have their deepest expression in the heart of the fields.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “A happy ending was imperative.”

320. “A happy ending was imperative.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Travel was a species of warfare.”

321. “Travel was a species of warfare.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “But books meant so much for him he forgot that they were a bewilderment to others.”

322. “But books meant so much for him he forgot that they were a bewilderment to others.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice, and we welcome ‘nerves’ or any other shibboleth that will cloak our personal desire.”

323. “Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice, and we welcome ‘nerves’ or any other shibboleth that will cloak our personal desire.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “The kingdom of music is not the kingdom of this world.”

324. “The kingdom of music is not the kingdom of this world.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “No disease of the imagination is so difficult to cure, as that which is complicated with the dread of guilt : fancy and conscience then act interchangeably upon us, and so often shift their places, that the illusions of one are not distinguished from the dictates of the other.”

325. “No disease of the imagination is so difficult to cure, as that which is complicated with the dread of guilt : fancy and conscience then act interchangeably upon us, and so often shift their places, that the illusions of one are not distinguished from the dictates of the other.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “It is the little things one bungles at. The big, real ones are nothing when they come.”

326. “It is the little things one bungles at. The big, real ones are nothing when they come.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “I believed in a return to Nature once. But how can we return to Nature when we have never been with her? Today, I believe that we must discover Nature. After many conquests we shall attain simplicity. It is our heritage.”

327. “I believed in a return to Nature once. But how can we return to Nature when we have never been with her? Today, I believe that we must discover Nature. After many conquests we shall attain simplicity. It is our heritage.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “The Arts are not drugs. They are not guaranteed to act when taken. Something as mysterious and capricious as the creative impulse has to be released before they can act.”

328. “The Arts are not drugs. They are not guaranteed to act when taken. Something as mysterious and capricious as the creative impulse has to be released before they can act.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “To attribute these two great developments to the Central Committee, is to take a very narrow view of civilization. The Central Committee announced the developments, it is true, but they were no more the cause of them than were the kings of the imperialistic period the cause of war.”

329. “To attribute these two great developments to the Central Committee, is to take a very narrow view of civilization. The Central Committee announced the developments, it is true, but they were no more the cause of them than were the kings of the imperialistic period the cause of war.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Had he lived some centuries ago, in the brightly coloured civilizations of the past, he would have had a definite status, his rank and his income would have corresponded. But in his day the angel of Democracy had arisen, enshadowing the classes with leathern wings, and proclaiming, “All men are equal – all men, that is to say, who possess umbrellas...”

330. “Had he lived some centuries ago, in the brightly coloured civilizations of the past, he would have had a definite status, his rank and his income would have corresponded. But in his day the angel of Democracy had arisen, enshadowing the classes with leathern wings, and proclaiming, “All men are equal – all men, that is to say, who possess umbrellas...”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Of course he despised the world as a whole; every thoughtful man should; it is almost a test of refinement.”

331. “Of course he despised the world as a whole; every thoughtful man should; it is almost a test of refinement.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “But he saw only dying light and a dead land. He uttered no prayer, believed in no deity, and knew that the past was devoid of meaning like the present, and a refuge for cowards.”

332. “But he saw only dying light and a dead land. He uttered no prayer, believed in no deity, and knew that the past was devoid of meaning like the present, and a refuge for cowards.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Actual life is full of false clues and sign-posts that lead nowhere.”

333. “Actual life is full of false clues and sign-posts that lead nowhere.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Though life is very glorious, it is difficult.”

334. “Though life is very glorious, it is difficult.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “This solitude opressed her; she was accustomed to have her thoughts confirmed by others or, at all events, contradicted; it was too dreadful not to know whether she was thinking right or wrong.”

335. “This solitude opressed her; she was accustomed to have her thoughts confirmed by others or, at all events, contradicted; it was too dreadful not to know whether she was thinking right or wrong.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Italy was offering her the most priceless of all possessions – her own soul.”

336. “Italy was offering her the most priceless of all possessions – her own soul.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Love was an emotion through which you occasionally enjoyed yourself. It could not do things.”

337. “Love was an emotion through which you occasionally enjoyed yourself. It could not do things.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “When love flies it is remembered not as love but as something else.”

338. “When love flies it is remembered not as love but as something else.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Ah, but you see, I didn’t want to be fair.”

339. “Ah, but you see, I didn’t want to be fair.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “And as her love revived, so did her capacity for suffering. Life, more important, grew more bitter.”

340. “And as her love revived, so did her capacity for suffering. Life, more important, grew more bitter.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Words deserted him immediately. He could only speak when he was not asked to.”

341. “Words deserted him immediately. He could only speak when he was not asked to.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Don’t brood too much,” she wrote to Helen, “on the superiority of the unseen to the seen. It’s true, but to brood on it is medieval. Our business is not to contrast the two, but to reconcile them.”

342. “Don’t brood too much,” she wrote to Helen, “on the superiority of the unseen to the seen. It’s true, but to brood on it is medieval. Our business is not to contrast the two, but to reconcile them.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Mr Abrahams was a preparatory schoolmaster of the old-fashioned sort. He cared neither for work nor games, but fed his boys well and saw that they did not misbehave. The rest he left to the parents, and did not speculate how much the parents were leaving to him. Amid mutual compliments the boys passed out into a public school, healthy but backward, to receive upon undefended flesh the first blows of the world.”

343. “Mr Abrahams was a preparatory schoolmaster of the old-fashioned sort. He cared neither for work nor games, but fed his boys well and saw that they did not misbehave. The rest he left to the parents, and did not speculate how much the parents were leaving to him. Amid mutual compliments the boys passed out into a public school, healthy but backward, to receive upon undefended flesh the first blows of the world.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “It is never possible for a novelist to deny time inside the fabric of his novel: he must cling, however lightly, to the thread of his story, he must touch the interminable tapeworm, otherwise he becomes unintelligible, which, in his case, is a blunder.”

344. “It is never possible for a novelist to deny time inside the fabric of his novel: he must cling, however lightly, to the thread of his story, he must touch the interminable tapeworm, otherwise he becomes unintelligible, which, in his case, is a blunder.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “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.”

345. “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.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Life’s very difficult and full of surprises. At all events, I’ve got as far as that. To be humble and kind, to go straight ahead, to love people rather than pity them, to remember the submerged – well, one can’t do all these things at once, worse luck, because they’re so contradictory. It’s then that proportion comes in – to live by proportion. Don’t begin with proportion. Only prigs do that. Let proportion come in as a last resource, when the better things have failed...”

346. “Life’s very difficult and full of surprises. At all events, I’ve got as far as that. To be humble and kind, to go straight ahead, to love people rather than pity them, to remember the submerged – well, one can’t do all these things at once, worse luck, because they’re so contradictory. It’s then that proportion comes in – to live by proportion. Don’t begin with proportion. Only prigs do that. Let proportion come in as a last resource, when the better things have failed...”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “A slow nature such as Maurice’s appears insensitive, for it needs time even to feel. Its instinct is to assume that nothing either for good or evil has happened, and to resist the invader. Once gripped, it feels acutely, and its sensations in love are particularly profound. Given time, it can know and impart ecstasy; given time, it can sink to the heart of Hell.”

347. “A slow nature such as Maurice’s appears insensitive, for it needs time even to feel. Its instinct is to assume that nothing either for good or evil has happened, and to resist the invader. Once gripped, it feels acutely, and its sensations in love are particularly profound. Given time, it can know and impart ecstasy; given time, it can sink to the heart of Hell.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “It is my fate and perhaps my temperament to sign agreements with fools.”

348. “It is my fate and perhaps my temperament to sign agreements with fools.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “But Italy worked some marvel in her. It gave her light...”

349. “But Italy worked some marvel in her. It gave her light...”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Like his sister and like most young people, he was naturally attracted by the idea of equality, and the undeniable fact that there are different kinds of Emersons annoyed him beyond measure.”

350. “Like his sister and like most young people, he was naturally attracted by the idea of equality, and the undeniable fact that there are different kinds of Emersons annoyed him beyond measure.”

— E. M. Forster

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