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Delphi Collected Works of E. M. Forster (Illustrated)

Book by E. M. Forster · 45 quotes · Room With A View, People, Ifs

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Delphi Collected Works of E. M. Forster (Illustrated) Quotes

“It was pleasant to wake up in Florence, to open the eyes upon a bright bare room, with a floor of red tiles which look clean though they are not; with a painted ceiling whereon pink griffins and blue amorini sport in a forest of yellow violins and bassoons. It was pleasant, too, to fling wide the windows, pinching the fingers in unfamiliar fastenings, to lean out into sunshine with beautiful hills and trees and marble churches opposite, and, close below, Arno, gurgling against the embankment of the road.”

LooksEyeBeautifulSportsChurchRoomsTreeRedWindowOppositesWake UpBlueCleanFingersWideForestsHillsPleasantSunshineYellowCeilingsViolinMarbleUnfamiliarFlingFlorenceTilesPinchingBassoon
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“The present flowed by them like a stream. The tree rustled. It had made music before they were born, and would continue after their deaths, but its song was of the moment. The moment had passed. The tree rustled again. Their senses were sharpened, and they seemed to apprehend life. Life passed. The tree rustled again.”

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“The tragedy of preparedness has scarcely been handled, save by the Greeks. Life is indeed dangerous, but not in the way morality would have us believe. It is indeed unmanageable, but the essence of it is not a battle. It is unmanageable because it is a romance, and its essence is romantic beauty.”

WayBelieveRomanceLife IsDangerousMoralityBattleEssenceTragedyGreekPreparednessHowards End
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“Was Mrs. Wilcox one of the unsatisfactory people- there are many of them- who dangle intimacy and then withdraw it? They evoke our interests and affections, and keep the life of the spirit dawdling around them. Then they withdraw. When physical passion is involved, there is a definite name for such behaviour- flirting- and if carried far enough, it is punishable by law. But no law- not public opinion, even- punishes those who coquette with friendship, though the dull ache that they inflict, the sense of misdirected effort and exhaustion, may be as intolerable. Was she one of these?”

PeopleIfsMayEnoughLawSpiritPassionNamesInterestEffortOpinionInvolvedAffectionIntimacyDullBehaviourDefiniteFlirtingAchePublic OpinionEvokeExhaustionHowards EndCoquette
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“I can only do what's easy. I can only entice and be enticed. I can't, and won't, attempt difficult relations. If I marry it will either be a man who's strong enough to boss me or whom I'm strong enough to boss. So I shan't ever marry, for there aren't such men. And Heaven help any one whom I do marry, for I shall certainly run away from him before you can say 'Jack Robinson.”

IfsMenI CanEnoughHelpingRunningStrongHeavenEasyDifficultRelationBossRunning AwayStrong EnoughBe A Man
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“It was not that ladies were inferior to men; it was that they were different. Their mission was to inspire others to achievement rather than to achieve themselves. Indirectly, by means of tact and a spotless name, a lady could accomplish much. But if she rushed into the fray herself she would be first censured, then despised, and finally ignored.”

IfsMenFirstsMeanDifferentWould BeNamesAchieveInspireAchievementAccomplishMissionsInferiorsIgnoredDespisedTactInspire OthersFrayRoom With A View
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“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.”

PeopleWellsKindLastsRememberDifficultEventsResourcesLuckSurpriseHumblePityProportionLive ByContradictoryBe HumbleSubmergedHowards End
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“We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won't do harm - yes, choose a place where you won't do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine.”

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“It is obvious enough for the reader to conclude, "She loves young Emerson." A reader in Lucy's place would not find it obvious. Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice, and we welcome "nerves" or any other shibboleth that will cloak our personal desire. She loved Cecil; George made her nervous; will the reader explain to her that the phrases should have been reversed?”

ShouldHas BeensMadeEnoughYoungLife IsDesireEasyPracticeReaderShould HaveObviousWelcomeNervousPhrasesNervesShould Have BeenCloaksLucyChroniclesPersonal DesireLife Is Easy
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