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Quote by Iris Murdoch

“And I was upset to find how really reluctant I was to leave my little flat. It was as if I was almost frightened. Spasms of prophetic homesickness pierced me as I rearranged the china and dusted it with my handkerchief, obsessive visions of burglaries and desecrations.”

Quote by Iris Murdoch

Work

The Black Prince

The book follows the life and adventures of a young prince during the 14th century. 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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“So much of what I have done is tied to what I will do that at times the truth I have already experienced threatens to vanishe with that which I have yet to see. How to express this to you? Whereas my journey until now has been one of potential, of imagination, now its loss seems to question everything I have seen. I have allowed dreams to melt into my realities, now realitieies threaten to melt to only dreams, to disappear. I don't know if anything I am writing makes sense, but in the face of such beauty around me, I only see myself standing outside our door in Franklin Mews, bag in hand, unchanged from the day I left." -Edgar, in a letter to his wife (Chp 11)”

“Ceux d'entre nous qui ignorent le secret consistant à régler au plus juste leur propre existence sur cet océan tumultueux de tracas absurdes que nous appelons la vie, ceux-là vivent dans un état de souffrance permanente - tout en s'efforçant, mais en vain, de paraître heureux et satisfaits. Nous chancelons en tentant de conserver notre équilibre moral, et nous voyons des signes précurseurs de tempête dans chaque nuage flottant à l'horizon. Quelle joie et quelle beauté; cependant, dans le déferlement des vagues qui roulent vers l'éternité ! Pourquoi ne pas pénétrer l'esprit de la vague, ou comme Lie-tseu, chevaucher l'ouragan lui-même ?”

“America, like England and Scotland, had never really been a gay nation. Rather it had been heavily and noisily jocular, with a substratum of worry and insecurity, in the image of its patron saint, Lincoln of the rollicking stories and the tragic heart. But at least there had been hearty greetings, man to man; there had been clamorous jazz for dancing, and the lively, slangy catcalls of young people, and the nervous blatting of tremendous traffic.”

“I should not let any form of inner limitation like self-doubt, fear of failure, worry, anxiety, financial issues, loss of cognitive capacity or loss of will come in the way. I should aggressively push through all of them because there was nothing to be afraid of. The worst thing that could happen was already happening. These things were not at stake; what was at stake was far more serious, complex and fundamental in nature.”