Letters have to pass two tests before they can be classed as good: they must express the personality both of the writer and of the recipient.

Quote by E M Forster

Topics: E M Forster Quotes

The English countryside, its growth and its destruction, is a genuine and tragic theme.

The English countryside, its growth and its destruction, is a genuine and tragic theme.

Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.

Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.

It is a mistake to think that books have come to stay. The human race...

It is a mistake to think that books have come to stay. The human race...

The people I respect most behave as if they were immortal and as if society...

The people I respect most behave as if they were immortal and as if society...

How can I know what I think till I see what I say?

How can I know what I think till I see what I say?

Those who prepared for all the emergencies of life beforehand may equip themselves at the...

Those who prepared for all the emergencies of life beforehand may equip themselves at the...

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...

The historian must have some conception of how men who are not historians behave. Otherwise...

The historian must have some conception of how men who are not historians behave. Otherwise...

No man can be an agnostic who has a sense of humor.

No man can be an agnostic who has a sense of humor.

Only a struggle twists sentimentality and lust together into love.

Only a struggle twists sentimentality and lust together into love.

America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for....

America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for....

The fact is we can only love what we know personally. And we cannot know...

The fact is we can only love what we know personally. And we cannot know...

We are all like Scheherazade's husband, in that we want to know what happens next.

We are all like Scheherazade's husband, in that we want to know what happens next.

Think before you speak is criticism's motto; speak before you think, creation's.

Think before you speak is criticism's motto; speak before you think, creation's.

At night, when the curtains are drawn and the fire flickers, my books attain a...

At night, when the curtains are drawn and the fire flickers, my books attain a...

We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand.

We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand.

Creative writers are always greater than the causes that they represent.

Creative writers are always greater than the causes that they represent.

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.

The sadness of the incomplete, the sadness that is often Life, but should never be...

The sadness of the incomplete, the sadness that is often Life, but should never be...

I never could get on with representative individuals but people who existed on their own...

I never could get on with representative individuals but people who existed on their own...