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Quote by Iris Murdoch

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The Message To The Planet

This book delves into the hypothetical scenario of a message received from beings beyond our solar system, examining the implications and potential reactions of humanity to such an event. 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

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“When you get down to it, though, explaining what you believe isn't all that easy. If you say that you believe something to be true, you might mean one of two things—that you're still weighing the alternatives, or that you accept it as a fact. I don't logically see how one single word can have contradictory definitions, but emotionally, I completely understand. Because there are times I think what I am doing is right, and there are other times I second-guess myself every step of the way.”

“Now, if the writers of these four books [Gospels] had gone into a court of justice to prove an alibi, (for it is of the nature of an alibi that is here attempted to be proved, namely, the absence of a dead body by supernatural means,) and had they given their evidence in the same contradictory manner as it is here given, they would have been in danger of having their ears cropt for perjury, and would have justly deserved it. Yet this is the evidence, and these are the books, that have been imposed upon the world as being given by divine inspiration, and as the unchangeable word of God.”

“And, indeed, in the world little dictators rule with an iron hand: Herod, Philip, Statius Quartus, the Caesar. With boundless arrogance they walk over the people of God. With one stroke of the pen they cause thousands to disappear or die or both; masters of torture do their dirty work for them in dark and dismal cellars while above, in the beautiful halls, they strut to festive music and exchange civilized pleasantries. But the church knows that even as this happens “forever is King our Lord Jesus Christ.” This was true then as it is true now. Nothing is more disturbing for the oppressor than this. Nothing is more comforting for the faithful.”