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Quotes from What I Believe — E. M. Forster

1879–1970 England

← All quotes by E. M. Forster

8 quotes

I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.

What I Believe (1938)

There lies at the back of every creed something terrible and hard for which the worshipper may one day be required to suffer.

What I Believe (1938)

The people I respect most behave as if they were immortal and as if society was eternal.

What I Believe (1938)

Naked I came into this world, naked I shall go out of it. And a very good thing too, for it reminds me that I am naked under my shirt, whatever its colour.

What I Believe (1938)

I distrust Great Men. They produce a desert of uniformity around them and often a pool of blood too, and I always feel a little man's pleasure when they come a cropper.

What I Believe (1938)

An efficiency-regime cannot be run without a few heroes stuck about it to carry off the dullness — much as plums have to be put into bad pudding to make it palatable.

What I Believe (1938)

The Saviour of the future — if ever he comes — will not preach a new Gospel. He will merely utilize my aristocracy, he will make effective the goodwill and the good temper which are already existing.

What I Believe (1938)

So two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. Two cheers are quite enough: there is no occasion to give three.

What I Believe (1938)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: E. M. Forster (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.