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
Similar quotes
I don't see the point of doing an interview unless you're going to share the things you learn in life and the mistakes you make. So to admit that I'm extremely human and have done some dark things I don't think makes me unusual or unusually dark. I think it actually is the right thing to do, and I'd like to think it's the nice thing to do.
Angelina JolieRead
The keys to the life of the heart lie in reflecting upon the Quran, being humble before Allah in secret, and leaving sins.
Ibn Qayyim Al-JawziyyaRead
Listen to no one's advice except that of the wind in the trees. That can recount the whole history of mankind.
Claude DebussyRead
The ending of sorrow is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge is always within the shadow of ignorance. Meditation is freedom from thought and a movement in the ecstasy of truth. Meditation is explosion of intelligence.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiRead
A million people can call the mountains a fiction, yet it need not trouble you as you stand atop them.
Randall MunroeRead
Just sick enough to be totally confident
Hunter S. ThompsonRead