Quotes from Maurice

“You confuse what's important with what's impressive.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“You do care a little for me, I know... but nothing to speak of, and you don't love me. I was yours once till death if you'd cared to keep me, but I'm someone else's now... and he's mine in a way that shocks you, but why don't you stop being shocked, and attend to your own happiness.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“I am an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“Did you ever dream you had a friend, Alec? Someone to last your whole life and you his. I suppose such a thing can’t really happen outside sleep.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn't have bothered to write otherwise. I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows, and in this sense, Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“After all, is not a real Hell better than a manufactured Heaven?”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“It comes to this then: there always have been people like me and always will be, and generally they have been persecuted.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“I swear from the bottom of my heart I want to be healed. I want to be like other men, not this outcast whom nobody wants.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“There has been, is, and always will be every conceivable type of person.  ”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“Words deserted him immediately. He could only speak when he was not asked to.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“I knew you read the Symposium in the vac," he said in a low voice.
Maurice felt uneasy.
"Then you understand - without me saying more - "
"How do you mean?"
Durham could not wait. People were all around them, but with eyes that had gone intensely blue he whispered, "I love you.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“I think you’re beautiful, the only beautiful person I’ve ever seen. I love your voice and everything to do with you, down to your clothes or the room you are sitting in. I adore you.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“There was something better in life than this rub­bish, if only he could get to it—love—nobility—big spaces where passion clasped peace, spaces no science could reach, but they existed for ever, full of woods some of them, and arched with majestic sky and a friend. . .”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“Because I say so little you think I don't feel. I care a lot.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“He educated Maurice, or rather his spirit educated Maurice's spirit, for they themselves became equal. Neither thought "Am I led; am I leading?" Love had caught him out of triviality and Maurice out of bewilderment in order that two imperfect souls might touch perfection.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“I was yours once 'till death if you'd cared to keep me, but I'm someone else's now - I can't hang about whining forever - and he's mine in a way that shocks you, but why don't you stop being shocked, and attend to your own happiness?”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“Nothing's the same for anyone. That's why life's this Hell, if you do a thing you're damned, and if you don't you're damned . . . .”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“Why children?' he asked. 'Why always children? For love to end where it begins is far more beautiful, and Nature knows it.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“When love flies it is remembered not as love but as something else. Blessed are the uneducated, who forget it entirely, and are never conscious of folly or pruriency in the past, of long aimless conversations.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“You mean that a Frenchman could share with a friend and yet not go to prison?’
‘Share? Do you mean unite? If both are of age and avoid public indecency, certainly.’
‘Will the law ever be that in England?’
‘I doubt it. England has always been disinclined to accept human nature.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“They had never struggled, and only a struggle twists sentimentality and lust together into love.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“He knew that loneliness was poisoning him, so that he grew viler as well as more unhappy.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“... And now we shan't be parted no more, and that's finished.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“He had awoken too late for happiness, but not for strength, and could feel an austere joy, as of a warrior who is homeless but stands fully armed.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“They cared for no one, they were outside humanity, and death, had it come, would only have continued their pursuit of a retreating horizon.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“He was obliged however to throw over Christianity. Those who base their conduct upon what they are rather than upon what they ought to be, always must throw it over in the end . . . .”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“When love flies it is remembered not as love but as something else.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“It's miles worse for you than that; I'm in love with your gamekeeper.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

“A slow nature such as Maurice's appears insensitive, for it needs time even to feel.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.