Reverence is fatal to literature.

Quote by E M Forster

Topics: E M Forster Quotes

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...

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

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

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.

The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which...

The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which...

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...

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...

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...

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...

History develops, art stands still.

History develops, art stands still.

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.

Charm, in most men and nearly all women, is a decoration.

Charm, in most men and nearly all women, is a decoration.

Nonsense and beauty have close connections.

Nonsense and beauty have close connections.

Only a struggle twists sentimentality and lust together into love.

Only a struggle twists sentimentality and lust together into love.

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

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

A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem...

A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem...

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...

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.

But nothing in India is identifiable, the mere asking of a question causes it to...

But nothing in India is identifiable, the mere asking of a question causes it to...

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

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

Love is always being given where it is not required.

Love is always being given where it is not required.