It was not that ladies were inferior to men; it was that they were different. Their mission was to inspire others to achievement rather than to achieve themselves. Indirectly, by means of tact and a spotless name, a lady could accomplish much. But if she rushed into the fray herself she would be first censured, then despised, and finally ignored.
E. M. ForsterBooks have to be read (worse luck it takes so long a time). It is the only way of discovering what they contain. A few savage tribes eat them, but reading is the only method of assimilation revealed to the West.
E. M. ForsterSometimes I think too much fuss is made about marriage. Century after century of carnal embracement and we're still no nearer to understanding one another.
E. M. ForsterThere is much good luck in the world, but it is luck. We are none of us safe. We are children, playing or quarrelling on the line.
E. M. ForsterIt is not that the Englishman can't feel-it is that he is afraid to feel. He has been taught at his public school that feeling is bad form. He must not express great joy or sorrow, or even open his mouth too wide when he talks-his pipe might fall out if he did.
E. M. ForsterHe stretched out his hands as he sang, sadly, because all beauty is sadโฆThe poem had done no โgoodโ to anyone, but it was a passing reminder, a breath from the divine lips of beauty, a nightingale between two worlds of dust. Less explicit than the call to Krishna, it voiced our loneliness nevertheless, our isolation, our need for the Friend who never comes yet is not entirely disproved.
E. M. Forster