--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But I have seen my obstacles…" description: "\"But I have seen my obstacles: trivialities, learning and poetry. This last needs explaining: the old artist's readiness to dissolve characters into a h..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12a/e-m-forster-1118_adversity_but-i-have-seen-my-obstacles-trivialitie_2642303.png" --- # But I have seen my obstacles: trivialities, learning and… ![“But I have seen my obstacles: trivialities, learning and poetry. This last needs explaining: the old artist's readiness to dissolve characters into a haze. Characters cannot come alive and fight and guide the world unless the novelist wants them to remain characters.” quote by E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12a/e-m-forster-1118_adversity_but-i-have-seen-my-obstacles-trivialitie_2642303.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12a/e-m-forster-1118_adversity_but-i-have-seen-my-obstacles-trivialitie_2642303.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12a/e-m-forster-1118_adversity_but-i-have-seen-my-obstacles-trivialitie_2642303.png) > “But I have seen my obstacles: trivialities, learning and poetry. This last needs explaining: the old artist's readiness to dissolve characters into a haze. Characters cannot come alive and fight and guide the world unless the novelist wants them to remain characters.” [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The writer must let characters become alive through the novelist’s intentional choices, not merely dissolve them into abstraction. **In simple terms:** Characters need purposeful direction to affect the story. Key Takeaway Give characters agency through deliberate narrative decisions. Themes creativity character development authorial intent Mood contemplative inquisitive Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - novel writing - character workshops - creative retreats Key Concepts literary theory fictional agency Questions to Reflect On - How does authorial control shape character authenticity? - When should a writer let characters act independently? A Different Perspective If characters are over‑controlled, they may feel flat and unrelatable. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Adversity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adversity/) [Alive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alive/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Novelists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novelists/) [Obstacles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obstacles/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Triviality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/triviality/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [The novelist wants to know how things will turn out; the historian already knows how things turned out, but wants to know why they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-korda/the-novelist-wants-to-know-how-things-will-turn-out-the-historian/) [Michael Korda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-korda/) > [La poe sie veutquelque chose d'e norme, debarbare et de sauvage. Poetry needs something on the scale of the grand, the barbarous, the savage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-diderot/la-poe-sie-veutquelque-chose-d-e-norme-debarbare-et-de-sauvage-poetry/) [Denis Diderot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-diderot/) > [Stadium rock and commercial rock are the opposite of what poetry needs. An audience of around 200 is ideal for poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrian-mitchell/stadium-rock-and-commercial-rock-are-the-opposite-of-what-poetry/) [Adrian Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrian-mitchell/) > [ “For grammar it \[poetry\] might have, but it needs it not; being so easy in itself, and so void of those cumbersome differences of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sidney/for-grammar-it-poetry-might-have-but-it-needs-it-not-being-so-easy-in/) [Philip Sidney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sidney/) > [I've never thought of my poems as violent. 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First of all, there are often complexities of syntax, form, unfamiliar absences, etc., that require…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-zapruder/i-don-t-think-poetry-needs-to-be-easily-understandable-first-of-all/) [Matthew Zapruder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-zapruder/) > [People who publish poetry today do it from a sense that poetry needs to be published, not because they think they are going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/campbell-mcgrath/people-who-publish-poetry-today-do-it-from-a-sense-that-poetry-needs/) [Campbell McGrath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/campbell-mcgrath/) > [I do think poetry needs to invite the reader, especially when there are so many other distractions while reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-starkey/i-do-think-poetry-needs-to-invite-the-reader-especially-when-there/) [David Starkey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-starkey/) > [Great poetry needs no interpreter other than a responsive heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-keller/great-poetry-needs-no-interpreter-other-than-a-responsive-heart/) [Helen Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-keller/) > [Poetry needs to be alive, unabashedly, and, for me, that entails seeing its complexity, the grit and grimness and jubilance and beauty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-lemon/poetry-needs-to-be-alive-unabashedly-and-for-me-that-entails-seeing/) [Alex Lemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-lemon/) > [We do not measure a culture by its output of undisguised trivialities but by what it claims as significant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/we-do-not-measure-a-culture-by-its-output-of-undisguised-trivialities/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [I do not doubt but the majest and beauty of the world are latent in any iota of the world; I do not doubt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/i-do-not-doubt-but-the-majest-and-beauty-of-the-world-are-latent-in/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [To women who please me only by their faces, I am the very devil when I find out they have neither souls nor hearts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/to-women-who-please-me-only-by-their-faces-i-am-the-very-devil-when-i/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [Exploitation and manipulation produce boredom and triviality; they cripple man, and all factors that make man into a psychic cripple turn him also into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/exploitation-and-manipulation-produce-boredom-and-triviality-they/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [In presenting a mathematical argument the great thing is to give the educated reader the chance to catch on at once to the momentary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-edensor-littlewood/in-presenting-a-mathematical-argument-the-great-thing-is-to-give-the/) [John Edensor Littlewood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-edensor-littlewood/) ## More by E. M. Forster > [Do not be proud of your inconsistency. It is a pity, it is a pity that we should be equipped like this. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/do-not-be-proud-of-your-inconsistency-it-is-a-pity-it-is-a-pity-that/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [Reverence is fatal to literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/reverence-is-fatal-to-literature/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/this-element-of-surprise-or-mystery-the-detective-element-as-it-is/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [It is so difficult - at least, I find it difficult - to understand people who speak the truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/it-is-so-difficult-at-least-i-find-it-difficult-to-understand-people/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and the unknown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/railway-termini-are-our-gates-to-the-glorious-and-the-unknown/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [Ah, but you see, I didn't want to be fair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/ah-but-you-see-i-didn-t-want-to-be-fair/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [The final test for a novel will be our affection for it, as it is the test of our friends, and of anything else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/the-final-test-for-a-novel-will-be-our-affection-for-it-as-it-is-the/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for It will probably be interesting, and it is sure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/america-is-rather-like-life-you-can-usually-find-in-it-what-you-look/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [A critic has no right to the narrowness which is the frequent prerogative of the creative artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/a-critic-has-no-right-to-the-narrowness-which-is-the-frequent/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [All men are equal — all men, that is to say, who possess umbrellas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/all-men-are-equal-all-men-that-is-to-say-who-possess-umbrellas/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [Before the civil war, Pottibakia was a normal member of the Comity of Nations. She erected tariff walls, broke treaties, persecuted minorities, obstructed at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/before-the-civil-war-pottibakia-was-a-normal-member-of-the-comity-of/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [Chess is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/chess-is-a-forcing-house-where-the-fruits-of-character-can-ripen-more/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [I distrust Great Men... I believe in aristocracy, though... Its members are to be found in all nations and classes, and all through the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/i-distrust-great-men-i-believe-in-aristocracy-though-its-members-are/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [Liking one person is an extra reason for liking another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/liking-one-person-is-an-extra-reason-for-liking-another/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [We are not concerned with the very poor. They are unthinkable, and only to be approached by the statistician or the poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/we-are-not-concerned-with-the-very-poor-they-are-unthinkable-and-only/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) [Explore all 287 E. M. Forster quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) ## More Adversity quotes > [We love playing together and we love adversity. You know, back-to-back, the two best teams in the East.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-nash/we-love-playing-together-and-we-love-adversity-you-know-back-to-back/) [Steve Nash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-nash/) > [When we have public success we also have private struggles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deion-sanders/when-we-have-public-success-we-also-have-private-struggles/) [Deion Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deion-sanders/) > [“The threats that resurfaced in the past 10 years were not an aberration. Al Qaeda and terrorism or one such threat, but it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-friedman/the-threats-that-resurfaced-in-the-past-10-years-were-not-an/) [George Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-friedman/) > [He who is content with what has been done is an obstacle in the path of progress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-keller/he-who-is-content-with-what-has-been-done-is-an-obstacle-in-the-path/) [Helen Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-keller/) > [“Friction is necessary. Ease of life leads to complacency and the atrophy of the human will and spirit. Within our struggles lives our strength,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-versey/friction-is-necessary-ease-of-life-leads-to-complacency-and-the/) [Jason Versey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-versey/) > [“Every adversity is just another opportunity to excel a little more.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-templet/every-adversity-is-just-another-opportunity-to-excel-a-little-more/) [Michel Templet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-templet/) > [“Just because she doesn't talk about it, doesn't mean she isn't feeling it. She hurts, but she won't wear it on her sleeve. She…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfa-h/just-because-she-doesn-t-talk-about-it-doesn-t-mean-she-isn-t-feeling/) [Alfa H](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfa-h/) > [Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-buckham-kennedy/every-trial-endured-and-weathered-in-the-right-spirit-makes-a-soul/) James Buckham Kennedy > [Honesty, by evil fortune tried, Finds in adversity the seed of praise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/honesty-by-evil-fortune-tried-finds-in-adversity-the-seed-of-praise/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [“Struggles are not associated to a particular people or creed, everyone struggles, not for the same reasons, but each has a personal struggle at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-chirisa/struggles-are-not-associated-to-a-particular-people-or-creed-everyone/) [Wayne Chirisa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-chirisa/) > [“Watch a man in times of adversity to discover what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucretius/watch-a-man-in-times-of-adversity-to-discover-what-kind-of-man-he-is/) [Lucretius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucretius/) > [God often hides His blessing in trouble or trial, which makes it all the sweeter when it comes our way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/god-often-hides-his-blessing-in-trouble-or-trial-which-makes-it-all/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [“Life is not about less mistakes but about more trials”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-e-sever/life-is-not-about-less-mistakes-but-about-more-trials/) S.E. 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