The Machine Stops and Other Stories Quotes

“To attribute these two great developments to the Central Committee, is to take a very narrow view of civilization. The Central Committee announced the developments, it is true, but they were no more the cause of them than were the kings of the imperialistic period the cause of war.”
― E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops and Other Stories

“We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It was robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation... it has paralysed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it... The Machine proceeds--but not to our goal.. if it could work without us, it would let us die”
― E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops and Other Stories

“What was the good of going to Peking when it was just like Shrewsbury? Why return to Shrewsbury when it would all be like Peking?”
― E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops and Other Stories

“By her side, on the little reading-desk, was a survival from the ages of litter – one book.”
― E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops and Other Stories

“The room, though it contained nothing, was in touch with all that she cared for in the world.”
― E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops and Other Stories