“Words deserted him immediately. He could only speak when he was not asked to.”
Source: Maurice
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E.M. Forster 200
English novelist 1879–1970Related quotes

“When he has nothing to say, he lets words speak.”
J. Agee, trans. (1989), p. 147
Das Geheimherz der Uhr [The Secret Heart of the Clock] (1987)

Io parlo parlo ... ma chi m'ascolta ritiene solo le parole che aspetta. ... Chi comanda al racconto non è la voce: è l'orecchio.
Marco Polo to Kublai Khan, in Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities (1974), ch. 9
In fiction

“When the long bygone Lee Po wanted to say something, he could do it with only a few words.”
“Just a Few Words,” p. 62
The Sun Watches the Sun (1999), Sequence: “A Stone and a Word”