Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
E. M. ForsterRead
You told me once that we shall be judged by our intentions, not by our accomplishments. I thought it a grand remark. But we must intend to accomplish - not sit intending on a chair.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our intentions matter, but they must be paired with action to be significant.
This quote emphasizes the importance of intentions in our moral judgment while highlighting that intentions alone are not enough; they must be accompanied by actions. Simply having good intentions without taking steps towards accomplishing something does not lead to meaningful outcomes, thus urging us to be proactive in our pursuits.
Themes
IntentionsActionsAccomplishmentsEffortJudgment
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about achieving personal goals.
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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Now, we learn that a system must have an aim. Without an aim, there is no system.
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Strengths are not activities you're good at, they're activities that strengthen you. A strength is an activity that before you're doing it you look forward to doing it; while you're doing it, time goes by quickly and you can concentrate; after you've done it, it seems to fulfill a need of yours.
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This is the precept by which I have lived: Prepare for the worst; expect the best; and take what comes.
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