"This element of surprise or mystery - the……" — E. M. Forster
"This element of surprise or mystery - the detective element as it is sometimes rather emptily called - is of great importance in a plot. It occurs through a suspension of the time-sequence; a mystery is a pocket in time, and it occurs crudely, as in "Why did the queen die?" and more subtly in half-explained gestures and words, the true meaning of which only dawns pages ahead. Mystery is essential to plot, and cannot be appreciated without intelligence. ... To appreciate a mystery, part of the mind must be left behind, brooding, while the other part goes marching on."
—
E. M. Forster
★
★
★
★
★
0.0 avg (0 ratings)
350 Quotes by E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster has 350 quotes on this site.
A few more worth reading:
-
Naked I came into the world, naked I shall go out of it! And a very good thing too, for…
-
It is not that the Englishman can't feel-it is that he is afraid to feel. He has been taught at…
-
Our final experience, like our first, is conjectural. We move between two darkness's.
-
Failure or success seems to have been allotted to men by their stars. But they retain the power of wriggling,…
-
The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death." "We must be willing to let…
-
As long as learning is connected with earning, as long as certain jobs can only be reached through exams, so…
-
The idea that nations should love one another, or that business concerns or marketing boards should love one another, or…
-
Towns are excrescences, gray fluxions, where men, hurrying to find one another, have lost themselves.
-
Neanderthal man listened to stories, if one may judge by the shape of his skull. The primitive audience was an…
-
A novelist can shift view-point if it comes off. ... Indeed, this power to expand and contract perception (of which…
-
The test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way. If it never…
-
Characters must not brood too long. They must not waste time running up and down ladders in their own insides.
See all 350 quotes by E. M. Forster »
More Ahead Quotes
This quote is filed under Ahead Quotes,
one of 2,602 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:
-
The life ahead can only be glorious if you learn to live in total harmony with the Lord.
— Sai Baba
-
I put my career in second place throughout both my marriages and it suffered. I don't regret it. You make…
— Lauren Bacall
-
Put your trust in the Lord and go ahead. Worry gets you no place.
— Roy Acuff
-
Stand-up came out of three things. Frustration, necessity and arrogance. I didn't have a great career ahead of me in…
— Eric Bana
-
Oh, I would love to be a motivational speaker. I have pulled myself out of a million potholes, and I…
— Drew Barrymore
-
There is only one way left to escape the alienation of present day society: to retreat ahead of it.
— Roland Barthes
-
We can't cross that bridge until we come to it, but I always like to lay down a pontoon ahead…
— Bernard Baruch
-
The great person is ahead of their time, the smart make something out of it, and the blockhead, sets themselves…
— Jean Baudrillard
-
The worst is still ahead of us. But no one in Washington has the spine to tell you that.
— Glenn Beck
-
No matter what looms ahead, if you can eat today, enjoy today, mix good cheer with friends today enjoy it…
— Henry Ward Beecher
-
On the Northern Ireland question, for instance, the British and Irish governments prohibit media contact with members of the IRA,…
— Kate Adie
-
In nonviolence you must go full steam ahead, if you want the good to come speedily you must go about…
— Vinoba Bhave
See all 2,602 Ahead Quotes »