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

Quote by E M Forster

Topics: E M Forster Quotes

Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life.

Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life.

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

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

Oxford is Oxford: not a mere receptacle for youth, like Cambridge. Perhaps it wants its...

Oxford is Oxford: not a mere receptacle for youth, like Cambridge. Perhaps it wants its...

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear...

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear...

Only people who have been allowed to practise freedom can have the grown-up look in...

Only people who have been allowed to practise freedom can have the grown-up look in...

There is something majestic in the bad taste of Italy.

There is something majestic in the bad taste of Italy.

Only a writer who has the sense of evil can make goodness readable.

Only a writer who has the sense of evil can make goodness readable.

At the side of the everlasting why, is a yes, and a yes, and a...

At the side of the everlasting why, is a yes, and a yes, and a...

Paganism is infectious, more infectious than diphtheria or piety.

Paganism is infectious, more infectious than diphtheria or piety.

Curiosity is one of the lowest of the human faculties. You will have noticed in...

Curiosity is one of the lowest of the human faculties. You will have noticed in...

Nonsense and beauty have close connections.

Nonsense and beauty have close connections.

Be soft, even if you stand to get squashed.

Be soft, even if you stand to get squashed.

Logic! Good gracious! What rubbish!

Logic! Good gracious! What rubbish!

The woman who can't influence her husband to vote the way she wants ought to...

The woman who can't influence her husband to vote the way she wants ought to...

The king died and then the queen died is a story. The king died, and...

The king died and then the queen died is a story. The king died, and...

What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it...

What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it...

England has always been disinclined to accept human nature.

England has always been disinclined to accept human nature.

Tolerance is a very dull virtue. It is boring. Unlike love, it has always had...

Tolerance is a very dull virtue. It is boring. Unlike love, it has always had...

We are not concerned with the very poor. They are unthinkable, and only to be...

We are not concerned with the very poor. They are unthinkable, and only to be...

Letters have to pass two tests before they can be classed as good: they must...

Letters have to pass two tests before they can be classed as good: they must...