690 Quotes by E. M. Forster

At such moments the soul retires within, to float upon the bosom of a deeper stream, and has communion with the dead, and sees the world’s glory not diminished, but different in kind to what she has supposed.

Anyone can find places, but the finding of people is a gift from God.

You care for me a little bit, I do think, but I can’t hang all my life on a little bit.

Appearing thus late in the story, Cecil must be at once described. He was medieval. Like a Gothic statue.

But they did not chatter much, for the boy, when he liked a person, would as soon sit silent in his company as speak.

You confuse what’s important with what’s impressive.

How can the mind take hold of such a country? Generations of invaders have tried, but they remain in exile. The important towns they build are only retreats, their quarrels the malaise of men who cannot find their way home. India knows of their trouble. She knows of the whole world’s trouble, to its uttermost depth. She calls “Come” through her hundred mouths, through objects ridiculous and august. But come to what? She has never defined. She is not a promise, only an appeal.

England still waits for the supreme moment of her literature – for the great poet who shall voice her, or, better still, for the thousand little poets whose voices shall pass into our common talk.

This is Ahab, that’s Jezebel,” said Evie, who was one of those who name animals after the less successful characters of Old Testament history.