Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
When you come back you will not be you. And I may not be I.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that change is inevitable and that individuals evolve over time, possibly altering their identities.
E. M. Forster's quote reflects the idea that experiences can fundamentally change a person. When we encounter new situations or leave a familiar environment, we often return changed—perhaps in our thoughts, feelings, or perspectives. The essence of who we are can shift with time and experience, highlighting the transformative power of life's journeys and relationships.
Themes
ChangeIdentityTransformationExperiencesGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech highlighting the transformative journeys of students.
More from E. M. Forster
All quotes →A 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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To me this is the first principle of life, the foundational principle, and a lesson you can't learn at the feet of any wise man: Get up! The art of living is simply getting up after you've been knocked down.
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I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again.
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What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others win too. Even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then.
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