M. Forster
M. Forster
life willing
We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
race curiosity mind
The four characteristics of humanism are curiosity, a free mind, belief in good taste, and belief in the human race.
chance novel humans
Human beings have their great chance in the novel.
against destiny failure fighting men movement power retain seem star success universe
Failure or success seem to have been allotted to men by their stars. But they retain the power of wriggling, of fighting with their star or against it, and in the whole universe the only really interesting movement is this wriggle.
knowledge science giving
Science explained people, but could not understand them. After long centuries among the bones and muscles it might be advancing to knowledge of the nerves, but this would never give understanding
courage literature be-courageous
Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life.
fear past freedom-of-speech
We are willing enough to praise freedom when she is safely tucked away in the past and cannot be a nuisance. In the present, amidst dangers whose outcome we cannot foresee, we get nervous about her, and admit censorship.
faith mind mental-health
Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch.
vulgarity-is revealing-something literature
Very notable was his distinction between coarseness and vulgarity, coarseness, revealing something; vulgarity, concealing something.
two personality tests
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.
eye people looks
Only people who have been allowed to practise freedom can have the grown-up look in their eyes.
travel adventure sunshine
Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas! we return.
men literature objects
The sort of poetry I seek resides in objects man can't touch.
umpires shadow room-with-a-view
We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand.