Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
Nonsense and beauty have close connections.
Interpretation
Nonsense and beauty are intricately linked, suggesting that beauty often arises from the unexpected or irrational.
This quote by E. M. Forster highlights the relationship between nonsense and beauty, suggesting that beauty can emerge from chaos, absurdity, and irrationality. It indicates that what may initially seem nonsensical can possess aesthetic value, offering a deeper understanding of creativity and the nature of art, where unconventional ideas frequently lead to profound beauty.
In practice
In a creative writing workshop, a participant used this quote to discuss the role of absurdity in storytelling.
Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
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.
I adore art...when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear.
A violinist had a violin, a painter his palette. All I had was myself. I was the instrument that I must care for.
The thing a drama school can't give you is instinct. It can sharpen instinct but that can't be taught, and you have to have intuition. It's an essential ingredient.
Gardening is how I relax. It's another form of creating and playing with colors.
I can't tell you where a poem comes from, what it is, or what it is for: nor can any other man. The reason I can't tell you is that the purpose of a poem is to go past telling, to be recognised by burning.
I can get excitement watching rain on a puddle. And then I paint it. Now, I admit, there are not too many people who would find that exciting. But I would. And I want life thrilling and rich. And it is. I make sure it is.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.