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Axiom: Novel must have either one living character or a perfect pattern: fails otherwise.

— E. M. Forster Commonplace Book (1985)

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More quotes by E. M. Forster

There's enough sorrow in the world, isn't there, without trying to invent it.

A Room with a View (1908)

A humanist has four leading characteristics — curiosity, a free mind, belief in good taste, and belief in the human race.

Two Cheers for Democracy (1951)

Science, when applied to personal relationships, is always just wrong.

Selected Letters (1983)

Long books, when read, are usually overpraised, because the reader wants to convince others and himself that he has not wasted his time.

Commonplace Book (1985)

Happiness in the ordinary sense is not what one needs in life, though one is right to aim at it. The true satisfaction is to come through and see those whom one loves come through.

Selected Letters (1983)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: E. M. Forster (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.