Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Iris Murdoch

Quote by Iris Murdoch

Work

Henry and Cato

This book follows the story of Henry and Cato, two characters who embark on a journey together, facing challenges and forming a deep bond along the way. more

Author

Iris Murdoch
Iris Murdoch

Iris Murdoch was an Irish-Canadian philosopher and author, born on July 15, 1919, in Dublin, Ireland, and passed away on February 8, 1999. She is celebrated for her philosophical novels that intertwine moral and ethical dilemmas with complex narratives. Murdoch's work has left a lasting impact on the literary world, particularly in the latter half of the 20th century. more

You May Also Like

“This is a somewhat risky translation. It pivots on the Hebrew word for “great” gadal (#H1431 גְדִּ֖ל). This word can mean many things, including: horn, as in the horn of a powerful bull, the spike of a crown, the authority that a powerful king can wield to knock down an enemy, or gore them into bloody submission. This word also carries God-given authority to change history—as it was used in the book of Jonah. Jehovah made six things “great”: Nineveh (Jon 1:2); the storm (Jon 1:4); the fish (Jon 2:1); the plant (Jon 4:6); the worm (Jon 4:7); the wind (Jon 4:8). Each of these items were smaller tools being used by God to prod the bigger tool, like Assyria, into playing God’s weapon to punish unfaithful Israel. (Is 9:5-6) pg 15”

LamentationsWord StudyBiblical Hebrew
Book:Lamentations: how narcissistic leaders torment church and family
Create image

“They” (her new husbands, Egypt and Babylon) heard of Jeremiah’s and Isaiah’s public declaration of divorce. (Jer 3:8; Is 50:1) Yet another oblique reference to divorced Hagar. Hagar had been properly dismissed—by her husband, Abraham. Hagar, however, was better than Judah. She may have created division in Abraham’s household, but at least Hagar maintained her relationship with Jehovah.”

LamentationsDismissedHagar
Book:Lamentations: how narcissistic leaders torment church and family
Create image

“How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people, and that the steeples and minarets canopied, and that the stone saints guarded where the flute was heard in the dawn-light and the cradle song lowed at dusk, and the marketplace full of made things, the first fruits bending the tables and the pledges and signatures of honor, honored—how is she become tributary and her people bounded by gates. She weepeth sore in the night and the tears are on her cheeks; her face is shrouded in fear and all her beauty is departed. The guilds and the clans are gone, gone the pity of the nurses and teachers. The scavenger dogs roam the fallow gardens and run without strength before their pursuers. How the walls are stained with a brother's blood and the night brings sickness to the longing.”

AnonymousLamentationsSusan Stewart
Author:Anonymous
Create image

“The scribes have cast the blame upon a woman, writing her filthiness is in her skirts and the elders have gathered in judgement under plane trees, and the virgin is trodden as in a wine-press, (how the crowd cries out against the menstruous woman, and the handmaiden, and the crone, and they are hooded with the cloud of anger and pulled into the waiting wagons) And the mothers of the warriors are crowned with laurel and the fathers of the singers are shamed in the square and the signs are marked upon the doorposts and the scaffolding built at the edge of the fairground. Who will teach the stitches and patterns? And who will remember the spells of the clover? And who will know the harmonies of number, the names and accounts of the stars? What thing shall I take to witness for thee? What thing shall I liken unto thee?”

AnonymousLamentationsSusan Stewart
Author:Anonymous
Create image

“I have been brought into darkness surely against me he has turned he hath set me in dark places he hath hedged me about that I cannot get out he hath made my chain heavy he hath closed my ways with stone he was like a bear lying in wait he hath pulled me to pieces and made me desolate that I cannot get out he hath filled my teeth with dust and covered me with ashes I cried out to my rescuers and they did not hear me, I turned away, and still I was hedged about, the daylight was taken and the blanket was taken and the rope and all my childish things, I cried out with my throat and my in-my-heart and my Lord's Prayer and my now I lay me down to sleep, and my health and my hands, and my show me myself and my secrets-and-all-my-sins forgiven and I counted the ones I knew and the ones I dreamed and I measured the shadow cast by the mirror, but the sun was remote and cold to me. I turned away, and still I was hedged about and anointed in fire and ashes. I saw the blue sheen of the world through the darkness, and the crust, and the stain of another, I touched my hair to my mouth, and my arms to my legs, and my mouth to my knee. I smelled the animal sweetness and the dampness of leaves beyond the wall; I heard the murmurs of my mothers and my brother, alone in his whimpering, and I heard the strangers whisper. But when I cried they did not hear me, and when I sang they did not know my song, and when I spoke, they did not acknowledge me, and when I left they did not seek me out along the cisterns and streets of the city. Mercy is new in the morning they said, and our god will not stand for such suffering—oh god of mercy and golden light.”

AnonymousLamentationsSusan Stewart
Author:Anonymous
Create image

“There are, without a doubt, an incredible number of new and improved technologies arriving every day. Self-driving cars, gene editing, low-cost solar panels, more efficient batteries, biofuel, quantum computers, 3-D printing of metals, artificial intelligence, and on and on and on, Any, or all, of these could generate profound changes in how we live and how we produce the goods and services that go into GDP. That said, it isn't obvious that we'll see profound effects on the growth rate of the economy. Many of those innovations make the production of goods more efficient, but that would only accelerate the shift into services. And there may be a larger question about whether we want to adopt or pursue these innovations at all. As Charles Jones suggested in a recent paper, given our current life expectancy and living standards, the risks inherent in any technology - to the environment, society, or our own health - may not be worth pursuing just to add a fraction of a percentage point to the growth rate.”

TechnologyGrowth Rate
Book:Fully Grown: Why a Stagnant Economy Is a Sign of Success
Create image