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E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster Quotes

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“Our easiest approach to a definition of any aspect of fiction is always by considering the sort of demand it makes on the reader. Curiosity for the story, human feelings and a sense of value for the characters, intelligence and memory for the plot. What does fantasy ask of us? It asks us to pay something extra.”

HumansDoeCharacterStoriesFeelingsValuesAsksMemoriesPayFictionFantasyReaderDemandApproachEmpathyAspectCuriosityDefinitionsExtrasPlotApathyConsidering
Author:E. M. Forster
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“If human nature does alter it will be because individuals manage to look at themselves in a new way. Here and there people - a very few people, but a few novelists are among them - are trying to do this. Every institution and vested interest in against such a search: organized religion, the state, the family in its economic aspect, have nothing to gain, and it is only when outward prohibitions weaken that it can proceed: history conditions it to that extent.”

PeopleIfsWayTryingHumansLooksDoeStatesIndividualInterestAtheismEconomicConditionsHuman NatureGainsAspectInstitutionsPositive AtheismManageNovelistsOrganizedNew WaysHere And ThereProhibitionOrganized ReligionVested Interests
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“Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch, which ought to be applied as sparingly as possible. I dislike the stuff. I do not believe in it, for its own sake, at all... My lawgivers are Erasmus and Montaigne, not Moses and St Paul. My 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.”

MindBelieveHelpingStuffProcessLordFieldsOughtSakeAtheistTemplesDislikeMottoImmoralMosesUnbeliefMy MottoErasmus
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“In time, Mr Hall, one gets to recognize that sneer, that hardness, for fornication extends far beyond the actual deed. Were it a deed only, I for one would not hold it anathema. But when the nations went a whoring they invariably ended by denying God, I think, and until all sexual irregularities and not some of them are penal the Church will never reconquer England.”

ThinkingNationsChurchEnglandAtheistDeedsHallsSneerHardnessAnathemaIrregularityDenying God
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“In the light of her son's comment she reconsidered the scene at the mosque, to see whose impression was correct. Yes it could be worked into quite an unpleasant scene. The doctor had begun by bullying her, had said Mrs Callendar was nice, and then - finding the ground safe - had changed; he had alternately whined over his grievances and patronized her, had run a dozen ways in a single sentence, had been unreliable, inquisitive, vain. Yes, it was all true, but how false as a summary of the man; the essential life of him had been slain.”

MenWaySaidLightRunningNiceChangedHe ManSonSceneSafeEssentialsFindingsDoctorsSentencesImpressionVainBullyingCommentDozenGrievanceMosquesUnreliableSummaryInquisitiveSingle Sentence
Author:E. M. Forster
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