Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
A work of art is never finished. It is merely abandoned.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art is a continuous process that is never truly complete.
E. M. Forster's quote suggests that the creation of art is an ongoing journey rather than a definitive endpoint. Artists often leave their works at a certain stage, but the potential for modification and reinterpretation continues indefinitely, implying that art evolves over time and reflects the artist's changing vision.
Themes
ArtCreationProcessAbandonmentArtist
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the evolution of art, this quote can highlight the notion that artistic works are fluid.
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.
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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