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Top 500 E. M. Forster Quotes (2026 Update)
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E. M. Forster Quote: “I don’t think literature will be purged until its philosophic pretentiousness is extruded, and I shant live to see that purge, nor perhaps when it has happened will anything survive.”

401. “I don’t think literature will be purged until its philosophic pretentiousness is extruded, and I shant live to see that purge, nor perhaps when it has happened will anything survive.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “I do not consider her choice of a piece happy. Beethoven is so usually simple and direct in his appeal that it is sheer perversity to choose a thing like that, which, if anything, disturbs.”

402. “I do not consider her choice of a piece happy. Beethoven is so usually simple and direct in his appeal that it is sheer perversity to choose a thing like that, which, if anything, disturbs.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “I never could get on with representative individuals but people who existed on their own account and with whom it might therefore be possible to be friends.”

403. “I never could get on with representative individuals but people who existed on their own account and with whom it might therefore be possible to be friends.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Maurice hated cricket. It demanded a snickety neatness he could not supply.”

404. “Maurice hated cricket. It demanded a snickety neatness he could not supply.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “You mustn’t put off what you think right,” said Hamidullah. “That is why India is in such a plight, because we put off things.”

405. “You mustn’t put off what you think right,” said Hamidullah. “That is why India is in such a plight, because we put off things.”

— E. M. Forster

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

406. “One always tends to overpraise a long book, because one has got through it.”

— E. M. Forster

Featured in: Book Quotes, Reading Quotes

E. M. Forster Quote: “Oh, horrible – worst of all – worse than death, when you have made a little clearing in the wilderness, planted your little garden, let in your sunlight, and then the weeds creep in again!”

407. “Oh, horrible – worst of all – worse than death, when you have made a little clearing in the wilderness, planted your little garden, let in your sunlight, and then the weeds creep in again!”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Reverence is fatal to literature.”

408. “Reverence is fatal to literature.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “She was no longer examining life, but being examined by it; she had become a real person.”

409. “She was no longer examining life, but being examined by it; she had become a real person.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “To make us feel small in the right way is a function of art.”

410. “To make us feel small in the right way is a function of art.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Humility is a quality for which I have only a limited admiration. In many phases of life it is a great mistake and degenerates into defensiveness or hypocrisy.”

411. “Humility is a quality for which I have only a limited admiration. In many phases of life it is a great mistake and degenerates into defensiveness or hypocrisy.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “He was inaccurate because he was sensitive.”

412. “He was inaccurate because he was sensitive.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Pity, if one can generalize, is at the bottom of woman. When men like us, it is for our better qualities, and however tender their liking, we dare not be unworthy of it, or they will quietly let us go. But unworthiness stimulates woman. It brings out her deeper nature, for good or for evil.”

413. “Pity, if one can generalize, is at the bottom of woman. When men like us, it is for our better qualities, and however tender their liking, we dare not be unworthy of it, or they will quietly let us go. But unworthiness stimulates woman. It brings out her deeper nature, for good or for evil.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “But it is sometimes as difficult to lose one’s temper as it is difficult at other times to keep it.”

414. “But it is sometimes as difficult to lose one’s temper as it is difficult at other times to keep it.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Long books, when read, are usually overpraised, because the reader wishes to convince others and himself that he has not wasted his time.”

415. “Long books, when read, are usually overpraised, because the reader wishes to convince others and himself that he has not wasted his time.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him – that is the best account of it that has been yet given. Squalor and tragedy can beckon to all that is great in us; and strengthen the wings of love.”

416. “Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him – that is the best account of it that has been yet given. Squalor and tragedy can beckon to all that is great in us; and strengthen the wings of love.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “I think he is nice and tiresome. I differ from him on almost every point of any importance, and so, I expect – I may say I hope – you will differ. But his is a type one disagrees with rather than deplores. When he first came here he not unnaturally put people’s backs up. He has no tact and no manners – I don’t mean by that that he has bad manners – and he will not keep his opinions to himself.”

417. “I think he is nice and tiresome. I differ from him on almost every point of any importance, and so, I expect – I may say I hope – you will differ. But his is a type one disagrees with rather than deplores. When he first came here he not unnaturally put people’s backs up. He has no tact and no manners – I don’t mean by that that he has bad manners – and he will not keep his opinions to himself.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “He was driven to use the prerogatives of his profession, to act the parson.”

418. “He was driven to use the prerogatives of his profession, to act the parson.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “But after all, what have we to do with taverns? Real menace belongs to the drawing-room.”

419. “But after all, what have we to do with taverns? Real menace belongs to the drawing-room.”

— E. M. Forster

Featured in: Real Quotes

E. M. Forster Quote: “Man has to pick up the use of his functions as he goes along- especially the function of Love.”

420. “Man has to pick up the use of his functions as he goes along- especially the function of Love.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “She had a strong, if erroneous, conviction of her own futility, and wished she had never come out of her backwater, where nothing happened except art and literature, and where no one ever got married or succeeded in remaining engaged.”

421. “She had a strong, if erroneous, conviction of her own futility, and wished she had never come out of her backwater, where nothing happened except art and literature, and where no one ever got married or succeeded in remaining engaged.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “If you leave the line, you leave a gap in the line.”

422. “If you leave the line, you leave a gap in the line.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “There lies at the back of every creed something terrible and hard for which the worshipper may one day be required to suffer.”

423. “There lies at the back of every creed something terrible and hard for which the worshipper may one day be required to suffer.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Lucy was suffering from the most grievous wrong which this world has yet discovered: diplomatic advantage had been taken of her sincerity, of her craving for sympathy and love. Such a wrong is not easily forgotten. Never again did she expose herself without due consideration and precaution against rebuff. And such a wrong may react disastrously upon the soul.”

424. “Lucy was suffering from the most grievous wrong which this world has yet discovered: diplomatic advantage had been taken of her sincerity, of her craving for sympathy and love. Such a wrong is not easily forgotten. Never again did she expose herself without due consideration and precaution against rebuff. And such a wrong may react disastrously upon the soul.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “The melody rose, unprofitably magical. It broke; it was resumed broken, not marching once from the cradle to the grave. The sadness of the incomplete – the sadness that is often Life, but should never be Art – throbbed in its disjected phrases, and made the nerves of the audience throb. Not thus had she played on the little draped piano at the Bertolini, and “Too much Schumann” was not the remark that Mr. Beebe had passed to himself when she returned.”

425. “The melody rose, unprofitably magical. It broke; it was resumed broken, not marching once from the cradle to the grave. The sadness of the incomplete – the sadness that is often Life, but should never be Art – throbbed in its disjected phrases, and made the nerves of the audience throb. Not thus had she played on the little draped piano at the Bertolini, and “Too much Schumann” was not the remark that Mr. Beebe had passed to himself when she returned.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Books have to be read it is the only way of discovering what they contain.”

426. “Books have to be read it is the only way of discovering what they contain.”

— E. M. Forster

Featured in: Book Quotes

E. M. Forster Quote: “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.”

427. “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

E. M. Forster Quote: “An acquaintance had become a lover, might become a husband, but would retain all that she had noted in the acquaintance; and love must confirm an old relation rather than reveal a new one.”

428. “An acquaintance had become a lover, might become a husband, but would retain all that she had noted in the acquaintance; and love must confirm an old relation rather than reveal a new one.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows.”

429. “I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Mr. Ansell was not merely a man of some education; he had what no education can bring – the power of detecting what is important. Like many fathers, he had spared no expense over his boy, – he had borrowed money to start him at a rapacious and fashionable private school; he had sent him to tutors; he had sent him to Cambridge. But he knew that all this was not the important thing. The important thing was freedom.”

430. “Mr. Ansell was not merely a man of some education; he had what no education can bring – the power of detecting what is important. Like many fathers, he had spared no expense over his boy, – he had borrowed money to start him at a rapacious and fashionable private school; he had sent him to tutors; he had sent him to Cambridge. But he knew that all this was not the important thing. The important thing was freedom.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Something had changed. He had journeyed – as on rare occasions a man must – till he stood behind right and wrong. On the banks of the grey torrent of life, love is the only flower.”

431. “Something had changed. He had journeyed – as on rare occasions a man must – till he stood behind right and wrong. On the banks of the grey torrent of life, love is the only flower.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Not out of them are the shows of history erected: the world would be a grey, bloodless place were it composed entirely of Miss Schlegels. But the world being what it is, perhaps they shine out in it like stars.”

432. “Not out of them are the shows of history erected: the world would be a grey, bloodless place were it composed entirely of Miss Schlegels. But the world being what it is, perhaps they shine out in it like stars.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Vagueness spurred him into knight errantry.”

433. “Vagueness spurred him into knight errantry.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Pity wraps the student of the past in an ambrosial cloud, and washes his limbs with eternal youth.”

434. “Pity wraps the student of the past in an ambrosial cloud, and washes his limbs with eternal youth.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “God is not Love in the East. He is Power, although Mercy may temper it.”

435. “God is not Love in the East. He is Power, although Mercy may temper it.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “No one, except Ronny, had any idea of what passed in her mind, and he only dimly, for where there is officialism every human relationship suffers.”

436. “No one, except Ronny, had any idea of what passed in her mind, and he only dimly, for where there is officialism every human relationship suffers.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Liking one person is an extra reason for liking another.”

437. “Liking one person is an extra reason for liking another.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “He lived on, miserable and misunderstood, as before, and increasingly lonely. One cannot write those words too often: Maurice’s loneliness: it increased.”

438. “He lived on, miserable and misunderstood, as before, and increasingly lonely. One cannot write those words too often: Maurice’s loneliness: it increased.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Axiom : Novel must have either one living character or a perfect pattern: fails otherwise.”

439. “Axiom : Novel must have either one living character or a perfect pattern: fails otherwise.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Towns are excrescences, gray fluxions, where men, hurrying to find one another, have lost themselves.”

440. “Towns are excrescences, gray fluxions, where men, hurrying to find one another, have lost themselves.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “I rather mistrust young men who slip into life gracefully.”

441. “I rather mistrust young men who slip into life gracefully.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “The feudal ownership of land did bring dignity, whereas the modern ownership of movables is reducing us again to a nomadic horde. We are reverting to the civilisation of luggage, and historians of the future will note how the middle classes accreted possessions without taking root in the earth, and may find in this the secret of their imaginative poverty.”

442. “The feudal ownership of land did bring dignity, whereas the modern ownership of movables is reducing us again to a nomadic horde. We are reverting to the civilisation of luggage, and historians of the future will note how the middle classes accreted possessions without taking root in the earth, and may find in this the secret of their imaginative poverty.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “She disliked confidences, for they might lead to self-knowledge and to that king of terrors – Light.”

443. “She disliked confidences, for they might lead to self-knowledge and to that king of terrors – Light.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Of all means to regeneration, Remorse is surely the most wasteful.”

444. “Of all means to regeneration, Remorse is surely the most wasteful.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “A chance word or a sigh are just as much evidence as a speech or a murder: the life they reveal ceases to be secret and enters the realm of action.”

445. “A chance word or a sigh are just as much evidence as a speech or a murder: the life they reveal ceases to be secret and enters the realm of action.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “The second dream is more difficult to convey. Nothing happened. He scarcely saw a face, scarcely heard a voice say, “That is your friend,” and then it was over, having filled him with beauty and taught him tenderness. He could die for such a friend, he would allow such a friend to die for him; they would make any sacrifice for each other, and count the world nothing, neither death nor distance nor crossness could part them, because “this is my friend.”

446. “The second dream is more difficult to convey. Nothing happened. He scarcely saw a face, scarcely heard a voice say, “That is your friend,” and then it was over, having filled him with beauty and taught him tenderness. He could die for such a friend, he would allow such a friend to die for him; they would make any sacrifice for each other, and count the world nothing, neither death nor distance nor crossness could part them, because “this is my friend.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “How few writers can prostitute all their powers!”

447. “How few writers can prostitute all their powers!”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Lucy’s Sabbath was generally of this amphibious nature. She kept it without hypocrisy in the morning, and broke it without reluctance in the afternoon.”

448. “Lucy’s Sabbath was generally of this amphibious nature. She kept it without hypocrisy in the morning, and broke it without reluctance in the afternoon.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “Helen says it alone endures while men and houses perish, and that in the end the world will be a desert of chairs and sofas – just imagine it! – rolling through infinity with no one to sit upon them.”

449. “Helen says it alone endures while men and houses perish, and that in the end the world will be a desert of chairs and sofas – just imagine it! – rolling through infinity with no one to sit upon them.”

— E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quote: “A novel must give a sense of permanence as well as a sense of life.”

450. “A novel must give a sense of permanence as well as a sense of life.”

— E. M. Forster

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