E.M.FORSTER - 'WHAT I BELIEVE'
I believe in the aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and all classes, and all through the ages there is a secret understanding between them when they meet.
They represent the true human condition. They are sensitive to others as well as for themselves, they are considerate without being fussy, their pluck is not swankiness but the power to endure, and they can take a joke.
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Found this on the door of a classroom at Harrow School. I'd heard it before but not for years, and didn't know Forster had written it. One thing though: the History master who teaches in that classroom must consider himself a member of this 'aristocratic' number. So, perhaps mildly immodest of him to pin the quote to his door.
I believe in the aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and all classes, and all through the ages there is a secret understanding between them when they meet.
They represent the true human condition. They are sensitive to others as well as for themselves, they are considerate without being fussy, their pluck is not swankiness but the power to endure, and they can take a joke.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Found this on the door of a classroom at Harrow School. I'd heard it before but not for years, and didn't know Forster had written it. One thing though: the History master who teaches in that classroom must consider himself a member of this 'aristocratic' number. So, perhaps mildly immodest of him to pin the quote to his door.
