Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
One always tends to overpraise a long book, because one has got through it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Long books often receive more praise simply because readers feel accomplished for finishing them.
E. M. Forster's quote highlights a common phenomenon in literary critique where the length of a book can skew a reader's perception of its quality. When a reader invests significant time and effort into reading a lengthy work, they may be inclined to praise it more than it may objectively deserve, simply due to their sense of achievement in finishing it. This reflects how personal experience can affect judgment and appreciation in literature.
Themes
BooksReadingLiterary CritiquePraiseLength
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a book club discussion to encourage critical thinking about the books we read.
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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