A novel is based on evidence, + or -x, the unknown quantity being the temperament of the novelist, and the unknown quantity… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
The novelist, unlike many of his colleagues, makes up a number of word-masses roughly describing himself (roughly: niceties shallcome later), gives them… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
People in a novel can be understood completely by the reader, if the novelist can be understood completely by the reader, if… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
It is the function of the novelist to reveal the hidden life at its source: to tell us more about Queen Victoria… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
It is never possible for a novelist to deny time inside the fabric of his novel: he must cling, however lightly, to… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
A novelist can shift view-point if it comes off. ... Indeed, this power to expand and contract perception (of which the shifting… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
But I have seen my obstacles: trivialities, learning and poetry. This last needs explaining: the old artist's readiness to dissolve characters into… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
Neanderthal man listened to stories, if one may judge by the shape of his skull. The primitive audience was an audience of… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
If human nature does alter it will be because individuals manage to look at themselves in a new way. Here and there… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
Do not be proud of your inconsistency. It is a pity, it is a pity that we should be equipped like this. It is… — E. M. Forster Copy Share
This element of surprise or mystery - the detective element as it is sometimes rather emptily called - is of great importance in a… — E. M. Forster Copy Share
It is so difficult - at least, I find it difficult - to understand people who speak the truth. — E. M. Forster Copy Share
The final test for a novel will be our affection for it, as it is the test of our friends, and of anything else… — E. M. Forster Copy Share
America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for It will probably be interesting, and it is sure… — E. M. Forster Copy Share
A critic has no right to the narrowness which is the frequent prerogative of the creative artist. — E. M. Forster Copy Share
Before the civil war, Pottibakia was a normal member of the Comity of Nations. She erected tariff walls, broke treaties, persecuted minorities, obstructed at… — E. M. Forster Copy Share
Chess is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life — E. M. Forster Copy Share
I distrust Great Men... I believe in aristocracy, though... Its members are to be found in all nations and classes, and all through the… — E. M. Forster Copy Share
We are not concerned with the very poor. They are unthinkable, and only to be approached by the statistician or the poet. — E. M. Forster Copy Share
