Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
When I think of what life is, and how seldom love is answered by love; it is one of the moments for which the world was made.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life's essence includes the bittersweet reality of unreciprocated love.
E. M. Forster reflects on the nature of life and love, suggesting that much of our existence is shaped by the moments when love is not returned. This poignancy encapsulates the beauty and sadness inherent in human relationships, highlighting how these fleeting experiences contribute to the overall tapestry of life.
Themes
LifeLoveUnrequitedMomentsExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the complexity of human emotions, one might quote Forster to illustrate the dual nature of love.
More from E. M. Forster
All quotes βA poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself.
E. M. ForsterRead
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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