Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
If human nature does alter it will be because individuals manage to look at themselves in a new way. Here and there people - a very few people, but a few novelists are among them - are trying to do this. Every institution and vested interest in against such a search: organized religion, the state, the family in its economic aspect, have nothing to gain, and it is only when outward prohibitions weaken that it can proceed: history conditions it to that extent.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that change in human nature comes from individuals re-evaluating themselves, despite systemic resistance.
E. M. Forster argues that for human nature to change, it requires individuals to reflect on their identities and perspectives, which is a difficult process given the opposition from established institutions like religion, the state, and family structures. These entities often benefit from the status quo and thus resist any evolution in thought. Only when societal constraints begin to loosen can real change occur, allowing individuals to embark on this introspective journey.
Themes
Human NatureChangeSelf-ReflectionInstitutionsSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on personal growth, one might say, 'As E. M. Forster noted, true change in human nature comes through self-reflection.'
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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