Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
There lies at the back of every creed something terrible and hard for which the worshipper may one day be required to suffer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Every belief system carries the potential for suffering and sacrifice that its adherents may eventually have to confront.
E. M. Forster's quote highlights the notion that behind every creed or belief, there exists a profound and often challenging truth that could demand significant personal sacrifice from its followers. This acknowledgment reflects the complex relationship between belief and personal experience, reminding us that devotion often comes with hardships and the possibility of suffering.
Themes
CreedSufferingSacrificeBeliefWorship
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about religious commitments during a seminar.
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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