Quotessence
Home / Authors / Iris Murdoch
Iris Murdoch

Iris Murdoch Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllIris MurdochThe Black PrinceThe Green KnightThe Message To The PlanetThe Nice And The GoodLoveThe Sea The SeaSadDialogueHumor

Famous Iris Murdoch Quotes

“A love without reservation ought to be a life force compelling the world into order and beauty. But that love can be so strong and yet so entirely powerless is what breaks the heart. Love did not move toward life, it moved toward death, toward the roaring sea-caves of annihilation. Or it led to the futility of a little broken bird's egg whose remains were now being washed away by water from the tap. Even so one day God might crack the universe and wash away its fruitless powerless loves with a deluge of indifferent power.”

SadHeartbreakIris MurdochUnrequited LovePowerlessFutilityThe Nice And The Good
Book:The Nice and the Good
Create image

“One morning, one day, perhaps soon, she would come to him and find him gone; and she knew how much she did not want to see him die, and yet how much she also wished that he might die holding her hand. These thoughts induced tears, which he must not see; and she tried not to think too much about the terrible mystery which was to be enacted . . .”

DeathLossDyingSadInevitableIris MurdochContradictoryThe Message To The Planet
Book:The Message To The Planet
Create image

“Cambridge by moonlight was light blue and brownish black. There was no mist here and a great vault of clear stars hung over the city with an intent luxurious brilliance. It was the sort of night when one knows of other galaxies. My long shadow glided before me on the pavement. Although it was not yet eleven o'clock the place seemed empty and I moved through it like a mysterious and lonely harlequin in a painting: like an assassin.”

BeautifulStarsSettingDescriptionIris MurdochSimileNighttimeGalaxiesA Severed Head
Book:A Severed Head
Create image

“I am looking out of my window in an anxious and resentful state of mind, oblivious to my surroundings, brooding perhaps on some damage done to my prestige. Then suddenly I observe a hovering kestrel. In a moment everything is altered. The brooding self with its hurt vanity has disappeared. There is nothing now but kestrel. And when I return to thinking of the other matter it seems less important”

PhilosophyEthicsIris Murdoch
Book:The Sovereignty of Good
Create image

“She did not understand music and it upset her, it had only sad, tragic things to say. These leaping forms, these pursuits and insistences, these elusive desperate repetitions, always seemed to her like one long cry of agony. She could not, in this company, allow herself the luxury of self-pitying tears, which was her highest tribute to the art. She looked about her and let the music gather to her the people with whom she was so deeply concerned.”

ArtEmotionMusicEmotionalSadTragicIris MurdochThe Unicorn
Book:The Unicorn
Create image

“They had exhorted her to work hard, it need only be for a short time after all, at 'dull school subjects', such as English, French, History and Maths. Moy, who hated these with the possible exception of English, had decided some time ago that she would not work at these horrid subjects, would not take any of the beastly exams, and would leave school as soon as possible. She occasionally tried to communicate this decision to her family, but they simply refused to listen.”

SchoolIris MurdochThe Green KnightLife PathDropping OutUnheeded
Book:The Green Knight
Create image