Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
You talk as if a god had made the Machine," cried the other. "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that. Great men, but men. The Machine is much, but not everything.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the idea that while technology is powerful, it is ultimately created by humans and should not be worshipped.
E. M. Forster's quote reflects on the relationship between humanity and technology, cautioning against ascribing divine qualities to machines. It serves as a reminder that although machines have significant influence and capabilities, they are ultimately human creations, constructed by great individuals who are still fallible. The quote invites us to recognize the limitations of technology and to maintain a critical perspective on its role in our lives.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the impacts of AI, you might say this quote to remind others of the human element in technological advancements.
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.
One must be fond of people and trust them if one is not to make a mess of life.
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.
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.
One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.
Similar quotes
When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance.
The medium, or process, of our time - electric technology is reshaping and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of our personal life. It is forcing us to reconsider and re-evaluate practically every thought, every action.
Let us hope that the advent of a successful flying machine, now only dimly foreseen and nevertheless thought to be possible, will bring nothing but good into the world; that it shall abridge distance, make all parts of the globe accessible, bring men into closer relation with each other, advance civilization, and hasten the promised era in which there shall be nothing but peace and goodwill among all men.
Our goal is to make the best devices in the world, not to be the biggest.
Technology is going to revolutionize almost every sector, leading to the demise of many traditional professions. Economic and political power will be determined less by a country's size than by its technological superiority.
Every tech story is different. Every moment in history happens only once. All successful companies are successful in their own unique way. It's your task to figure out what that future history will be.