Axiom : Novel must have either one living character or a perfect pattern: fails otherwise. — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
Books have to be read it is the only way of discovering what they contain. — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
One always tends to overpraise a long book, because one has got through it. — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
At night, when the curtains are drawn and the fire flickers, my books attain a collective dignity. — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who… — 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
In the novel we can know people perfectly, and, apart from the general pleasure of reading, we can find here a compensation… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
The book [ A Passage to India ] shows signs of fatigue and disillusionment; but it has chapters of clear and triumphant… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
It is now only in letters I write what I feel: not in literature any more, and I seldom say it, because… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
I have said that each aspect of the novel demands a different quality of the reader. Well, the prophetic aspect demands two… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
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
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
A mirror does not develop because an historical pageant passes in front of it. It only develops when it gets a fresh… — 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
Our easiest approach to a definition of any aspect of fiction is always by considering the sort of demand it makes on… — 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
Letters have to pass two tests before they can be classed as good: they must express the personality both of the writer… — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
I don't think literature will be purged until its philosophic pretentiousness is extruded, and I shant live to see that purge, nor… — 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 Image
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 Image
It is so difficult - at least, I find it difficult - to understand people who speak the truth. — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
A critic has no right to the narrowness which is the frequent prerogative of the creative artist. — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
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 Image
Chess is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life — E. M. Forster Copy Share Image
![“The book [ A Passage to India ] shows signs of fatigue and disillusionment; but it has chapters of clear and triumphant beauty, and above all it makes us wonder, what will he write next?” quote by E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c1e/e-m-forster-1118_beauty_the-book-a-passage-to-india-shows-signs_2180622.jpg)
