Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
Long books, when read, are usually overpraised, because the reader wishes to convince others and himself that he has not wasted his time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Long books are often overly praised by readers who want to justify their investment of time.
E. M. Forster highlights a common phenomenon where readers feel compelled to claim that long books are valuable, primarily because they have invested significant time into reading them. This suggests a desire for validation, both from others and from themselves, to affirm that the time spent was not a waste, even if the content may not truly deserve such praise.
Themes
ReadingBooksTimeValidationLiterature
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a book club to discuss the merits of lengthy novels.
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.
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One must be fond of people and trust them if one is not to make a mess of life.
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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.
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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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