Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
It 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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the Englishman's repression of emotions due to societal norms and education.
E. M. Forster's quote criticizes the cultural conditioning of Englishmen, suggesting that they are taught to suppress their emotions as a matter of decorum. This stifling of natural feelings not only hinders personal expression but may also lead to a sense of emotional inadequacy or disconnection from authentic human experiences.
Themes
EmotionExpressionSocietyRepressionCulture
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about cultural norms, one might use this quote to exemplify how societal expectations can limit personal expression.
More from E. M. Forster
All quotes →A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself.
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One must be fond of people and trust them if one is not to make a mess of life.
E. M. ForsterRead
Oxford is Oxford: not a mere receptacle for youth, like Cambridge. Perhaps it wants its inmates to love it rather than to love one another.
E. M. ForsterRead
The fact is we can only love what we know personally. And we cannot know much. In public affairs, in the rebuilding of civilization, something less dramatic and emotional is needed, namely tolerance.
E. M. ForsterRead
One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.
E. M. ForsterRead
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