Not to have been born is undoubtedly best, but sound sleep is second best. Iris Murdoch More Quotes by Iris Murdoch More Quotes From Iris Murdoch Education doesn’t make you happy. Nor does freedom. We don’t become happy just because we’re free – if we are. Or because we’ve been educated – if we have. But because education may be the means by which we realize we are happy. It opens our eyes, our ears, tells us where delights are lurking, convinces us that there is only one freedom of any importance whatsoever, that of the mind, and gives us the assurance – the confidence – to walk the path our mind, our educated mind, offers. Iris Murdoch convince-us eye mean It is not enough that I succeed, everyone else must fail. Iris Murdoch succeed failing enough Freedom may be a value in politics, but it is not a value in morals. Iris Murdoch values moral may The chief requirement of the good life, is to live without any image of oneself. Iris Murdoch good-life requirements life-is Perhaps when distant people on other planets pick up some wavelength of ours all they hear is a continuous scream. Iris Murdoch wavelength literature people Every book is the wreck of a perfect idea. Iris Murdoch writing book ideas It is in the capacity to love, that is to SEE, that the liberation of the soul from fantasy consists. The freedom which is a proper human goal is the freedom from fantasy, that is the realism of compassion. What I have called fantasy, the proliferation of blinding self-centered aims and images, is itself a powerful system of energy, and most of what is often called 'will' or 'willing' belongs to this system. What counteracts the system is attention to reality inspired by, consisting of, love. Iris Murdoch powerful love reality Most real relationships are involuntary. Iris Murdoch real-relationship involuntary real Our destiny can be examined, but it cannot be justified or totally explained. We are simply here. Iris Murdoch justified destiny inspirational Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the gods. Iris Murdoch finals soul art Love is the last and secret name of all the virtues. Iris Murdoch secret names love-is Words are the most subtle symbols which we possess and our human fabric depends on them. Iris Murdoch fabric subtle symbols I just enjoy translating, it's like opening one's mouth and hearing someone else's voice emerge. Iris Murdoch hearing voice mouths I think being a woman is like being Irish. Everyone says you're important and nice, but you take second place all the same. Iris Murdoch women nice reality Yes, of course, there's something fishy about describing people's feelings. You try hard to be accurate, but as soon as you start to define such and such a feeling, language lets you down. It's really a machine for making falsehoods. When we really speak the truth, words are insufficient. Almost everything except things like "pass the gravy" is a lie of a sort. And that being the case, I shall shut up. Oh, and... pass the gravy. Iris Murdoch feelings lying people Only lies and evil come from letting people off. Iris Murdoch responsibility lying people The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Iris Murdoch riding-a-bicycle cycling men We shall be better prepared for the future if we see how terrible, how doomed the present is. Iris Murdoch fate literature time All our failures are ultimately failures in love. Iris Murdoch failure All art deals with the absurd and aims at the simple. Good art speaks truth, indeed is truth, perhaps the only truth. Iris Murdoch speak simple art
