Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
The historian must have some conception of how men who are not historians behave. Otherwise he will move in a world of the dead. He can only gain that conception through personal experience, and he can only use his personal experiences when he is a genius.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Historians need to understand human behavior beyond their field to truly grasp history's significance.
E. M. Forster emphasizes the importance of context and personal experience in the profession of history. A historian's understanding is limited if they fail to grasp how the lives and behaviors of ordinary people influence historical events. This requires a level of genius and personal insight, as mere academic knowledge is insufficient for a profound comprehension of the human condition and its relevance in history.
Themes
HistoryExperienceUnderstandingGeniusBehavior
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on the importance of context in history, this quote illustrates that understanding people is key to historical analysis.
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.
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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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