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Iris Murdoch

Iris Murdoch Quotes

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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
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“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
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“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
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“How can one discover what he feels?" "I thought he might perhaps behave — quite differently with you?" "No, no. We seem to know each other well but I think that's just because I parade my feelings. He's affectionate, detached, passive, absolutely passive." "He's never told you about that place?" "He's never talked about himself at all.”

SadIris MurdochPassiveElusiveDetachedAmbiguousThe Nice And The Good
Book:The Nice and the Good
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