Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
I never could get on with representative individuals but people who existed on their own account and with whom it might therefore be possible to be friends.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a preference for authentic connections over superficial relationships based on representation.
E. M. Forster emphasizes the importance of genuine friendship that arises from interacting with individuals who are true to themselves rather than those who merely act as representatives or facades. He suggests that real connections can only form when people are authentic and exist 'on their own account', allowing for deeper and more meaningful relationships.
Themes
FriendshipAuthenticityConnectionIndividualityRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about building strong teams, one might quote Forster to highlight the importance of individual connections.
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.
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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Here's to us, who's like us Damn few, and they're all dead.
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That's what I meant,' said Pippin. 'We hobbits ought to stick together, and we will. I shall go, unless they chain me up. There must be someone with intelligence in the party.
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