Every book is the wreck of a perfect idea. Iris Murdoch More Quotes by Iris Murdoch More Quotes From Iris Murdoch A long marriage is very unifying, even if it's not ideal, and those old structures must be respected. Iris Murdoch idealsstructurelong until I have been able to bury my head so deep in dear London that I can forget that I have ever been away I am inconsolable. Iris Murdoch londonableforget A letter is a barrier, a reprieve, a charm against the world, an almost infallible method of acting at a distance. Iris Murdoch distanceactingworld Art is a kind of artificial memory and the pain which attends all serious art is a sense of that factitiousness. Iris Murdoch painmemoriesart How rarely can happiness be really innocent and not triumphant, not an insult to the deprived. Iris Murdoch insultinnocenthappiness Freedom is not choosing; that is merely the move that we make when all is already lost. Freedom is knowing and understanding and respecting things quite other than ourselves. Iris Murdoch understandingknowingmoving Food is a profound subject and one, incidentally, about which no writer lies. Iris Murdoch foodprofoundlying evil soon makes tools out of those who don't hate it. Iris Murdoch hatetoolsevil I feel half faded away like some figure in the background of an old picture. Iris Murdoch backgroundsfigureshalf The most potent and sacred command which can be laid upon any artist is the command: wait. Iris Murdoch artistwaitinginspirational ... he felt himself to be one of them, who can live neither in the world nor out of it. They are a kind of sick people, whose desire for God makes them unsatisfactory citizens of an ordinary life, but whose strength or temperament fails them to surrender the world completely; and present-day society, with its hurried pace and its mechanical and technical structure, offers no home to these unhappy souls. Iris Murdoch sickhomepeople The theatre is certainly a place for learning about the brevity of human glory: oh all those wonderful glittering absolutely vanished pantomime! Now I shall abjure magic and become a hermit : put myself in a situation where I can honestly say that I have nothing else to do but to learn to be good. Iris Murdoch magictheatrewonderful The sending of a letter constitutes a magical grasp upon the future. Iris Murdoch letterswriting Coffee, unless it is very good and made by somebody else, is pretty intolerable at any time. Iris Murdoch very-goodcoffeemade The talk of lovers who have just declared their love is one of life's most sweet delights. Each vies with the other in humility, in amazement at being so valued. The past is searched for the first signs and each one is in haste to declare all that he is so that no part of his being escapes the hallowing touch. Iris Murdoch humilitysweetpast One doesn't have to get anywhere in a marriage. It's not a public conveyance. Iris Murdoch The priesthood is a marriage. People often start by falling in love, and they go on for years without realizing that love must change into some other love which is so unlike it that it can hardly be recognized as love at all. Iris Murdoch changelovefall Possibly, more people kill themselves and others out of hurt vanity than out of envy, jealousy, malice or desire for revenge. Iris Murdoch vanityrevengehurt Falling out of love is very enlightening. For a short while you see the world with new eyes. Iris Murdoch memorablelovefall Every artist is an unhappy lover. Iris Murdoch philosophicalartistunhappy
