Only the very greatest art invigorates without consoling.
IRIS MURDOCHOf course this chattering diary is a facade, the literary equivalent of the everyday smiling face which hides the inward ravages of jealousy, remorse, fear and the consciousness of irretrievable moral failure. Yet such pretenses are not only consolations but may even be productive of a little ersatz courage.
More Iris Murdoch Quotes
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Only take someone’s hand in a certain way, even look into their eyes in a certain way, and the world is changed forever.
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Perhaps there was an intimacy which did not need words.
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Every persisting marriage is based on fear’, said Peregrine. ‘Fear is fundamental, you dig down in human nature and what’s at the bottom? Mean spiteful cruel self-regarding fear, whether it makes you to put the foot in it or whether it makes you to cower.
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What an extraordinary satisfaction there is in cleaning things! (Does the satisfaction depend on ownership? I suspect so.
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One should go easy on smashing other people’s lies. Better to concentrate on one’s own.
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Love is the Extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.
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One of the secrets of a happy life is continous small treats.
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We defend ourselves with descriptions and tame the world by generalizing.
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Her eyes, which refused to meet mine, had the defensive coldness of those who are determined to lose hope.
IRIS MURDOCH -
People have disappointed me and deceived me and let me down.
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Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one’s luck.
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Freedom may be a value in politics, but it is not a value in morals.
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Time, like the sea, unties all knots.
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Of course this chattering diary is a facade, the literary equivalent of the everyday smiling face which hides the inward ravages of jealousy, remorse, fear and the consciousness of irretrievable moral failure. Yet such pretenses are not only consolations but may even be productive of a little ersatz courage.
IRIS MURDOCH -
What a test that is: more than devotion, admiration, passion. If you long and long for someone’s company you love them.
IRIS MURDOCH






