Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
Towns are after all excrescences, grey fluxions, where men, hurrying to find one another, have lost themselves.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Urban life can make people feel disconnected despite being surrounded by others.
In this quote, E. M. Forster reflects on the paradox of city life, where individuals, in their pursuit of connection and community, often become lost in the hustle and bustle of urban existence. The term 'excrescences' suggests that towns are unnatural growths, highlighting how cities can sometimes isolate individuals rather than bring them together, leading to a loss of true identity and self amidst the chaos of modern life.
Themes
UrbanityConnectionIdentityDisconnectionCommunity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about mental health, you might use this quote to emphasize the loneliness that can exist in cities.
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.
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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