sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. For Forster it is a tragedy that no way has been found to transmit private decencies into public life: The more highly public life is organized the lower does its morality sink; the nations of today behave to each other worse than they ever did in the past, they cheat, rob, bully and bluff, make war without notice, and kill as many women and children as possible; whereas primitive tribes were at all events restrained by taboos. It is a humiliating outlook—though the greater the darkness, the brighter shine the little lights, reassuring one another, signalling: "Well, at all events, I'm still here. I don't like it very much, but how are you?" Individualism Forster concludes by stating that these "are the reflections of an individualist and a liberal" who has "found liberalism crumbling beneath him", taking comfort from the fact that people are born separately and die separately. Therefore, no dictator will be able to eradicate individualism. Forster did not consider himself a visionary. References Bibliography Forster's "What I Believe" is published in: Forster, E. M., Two Cheers for Democracy, , and also in: Forster, E. M., What I Believe, and other essays, . What I Believe – E. M. Forster's essay [abridged] Humanism Books critical of Christianity Books by E. M. Forster Philosophy essays Books with atheism-related themes 1938 essays