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71e40f1 One forgot, one forgot. What hold had one on the past? The present moment was a little travelling in darkness. past Iris Murdoch
98b659c And do stop sneezing. It annoys me so much when people sneeze. Iris Murdoch
db5ae62 Your coldness has ruined my life. All right, you didn't mean it, all right I was a schoolgirl, but you could have been kinder to someone who said they loved you, you could have been gentle and grateful. declaration-of-love harsh iris-murdoch rejection ruined-lives the-message-to-the-planet Iris Murdoch
f67684d When the sun was set I might perhaps go to sleep. I never let myself sleep during the day. Daytime sleep is a cursed slumber from which one wakes in despair. The sun will not tolerate it. If he can he will pry under your eyelids and prise them apart; and if you hang black curtains at your windows he will lay siege to your room until it is so stifling that at last you stagger with staring eyes to the window and tear back the curtains to see .. Iris Murdoch
8338d61 How mysterious night and day are, this endless procession off dark and light....I think such sad thoughts - of people in trouble and afraid, all lonely people all prisoners. Iris Murdoch
22523a2 It is necessary to write, that much is clear, and to write in a way quite unlike any way which I have employed before. self-deception truth writers writing Iris Murdoch
b72fe87 As soon as any idea is a consolation the tendency to falsify it becomes strong: hence the traditional problem of preventing the idea of God from degenerating in the believer's mind. Iris Murdoch
ee0fe07 Even if readers claim that they 'take it all with a grain of salt', they do not really. They yearn to believe, and they believe, because believing is easier than disbelieving, and because anything which is written down is likely to be 'true in a way'. façades fiction readers reading writing Iris Murdoch
2c24070 The self, the place where we live, is a place of illusion. Goodness is connected with the attempt to see the unself, to see and to respond to the real world in the light of a virtuous consciousness. This is the non-metaphysical meaning of the idea of transcendence to which philosophers have so constantly resorted in their explanations of goodness. 'Good is a transcendent reality' means that virtue is the attempt to pierce the veil of selfis.. good human-nature illusion real transcendence Iris Murdoch
46e3320 If I see her she may kill hope. Iris Murdoch
9dc2c37 The same virtues, in the end, the same virtue (love), are required throughout, and fantasy (self) can prevent us from seeing a blade of grass just as it can prevent us from seeing another person. An increasing awareness of 'goods' and the attempt (usually only partially successful) to attend to them purely, without self, brings with it an increasing awareness of the unity and interdependence of the moral world. One-seeking intelligence is t.. fantasy good illusion intellect love self unity vision Iris Murdoch
375eb56 Your love for me does not exist in the real world. Yes, it is love, I do not deny it. But not every love has a course to run, smooth or otherwise, and this love has no course at all . . . But that is remote from love and remote from ordinary life. As real people we do not exist for each other. figurative-language impossible-love iris-murdoch love unrequited-love Iris Murdoch
d7a8c6f I could not see other human beings at present. alone antisocial iris-murdoch misanthropic recluse seclusion Iris Murdoch
4bb865e He felt as if he were under an intolerable physical strain, as if his body were likely at any moment to fly to pieces. Other strange physical symptoms came to trouble him. An unpleasant odour lingered in his nostrils, as if he could literally smell the sulphur of the pit; and he had from time to time the curious illusion that his flesh was turning black. He had to look continually at his hands to be sure that it was not so. Nightmares troub.. Iris Murdoch
39eda6c And I thought, rolling my head to and fro between my hands in anguish, oh if only it could have worked somehow for us two. if-only in-another-life iris-murdoch star-crossed-lovers the-sea-the-sea unrequited-love Iris Murdoch
6388a0b We shall meet, but as strangers. It is the end of an era. A whole part of my life is torn away. iris-murdoch parting sad separation strangers the-end-of-an-era the-green-knight Iris Murdoch
3c675f3 Yet on the other hand, I did manage to write, and without more than occasional repining, during my years of bondage, and I would not, as some unsatisfied writers do, blame my lack of productivity upon my lack of time. Iris Murdoch
ad314a7 Love is no respecter of ages, everyone knows that. Iris Murdoch
d71b68e It might be most dramatically effective to begin the tale at the moment when Arnold Baffin rang me up and said, "Bradley, could you come round here please, I think I have just killed my wife." dramatic iris-murdoch meta narrative narrator opening storytelling the-black-prince Iris Murdoch
add2c7c Disapproving of things is all right. But you mustn't disapprove of people. It cuts you off. Iris Murdoch
7851f1c I had deluded myself throughout by the idea of reviving a secret love which did not exist at all. iris-murdoch love secret-love the-sea-the-sea unrequited-love Iris Murdoch
ea951d7 He dreamt...he was a huge white egg floating in the sea of turquoise blue, and he was everything that there was. Iris Murdoch
46198ad I have always attributed a great importance to eyes. How mysteriously expressive those damp orbs can be; the eyeball does not change and yet it is the window of the soul. And colour in eyes is, in its nature and inherence, quite unlike colour in any other substance. Mr Osmand had grey eyes, but his eyes were hard and speckled like Aberdeen granite, while Tommy's were clear and empty like light smoke. Iris Murdoch
f2e104d Don't tease me. Everything wounds me now except perfect kindness. iris-murdoch kindness sensitive teasing the-green-knight Iris Murdoch
3f8737c I am, I must confess, an obsessive and superstitious letter-writer. When I am troubled I will write any long letter rather than make a telephone call. This is perhaps because I invest letters with magical power. To desiderate something in a letter is, I often irrationally feel, tantamount to bringing it about. A letter is a barrier, a reprieve, a charm against the world, an almost infallible method of acting at a distance. (And, it must be .. iris-murdoch letters magical obsessive superstitious the-black-prince writing Iris Murdoch
b8cabb6 Your infatuation will end in tears. heartbreak infatuation iris-murdoch tears the-message-to-the-planet warning Iris Murdoch
87809f9 There is a time limit to how long a spirited young person can be kept in cold storage. iris-murdoch limbo on-the-shelf spirited youth Iris Murdoch
3e32f51 And she did seem then to go to sleep instantly: the quick flight into oblivion of the chronically unhappy person. depression iris-murdoch oblivion sleep the-sea-the-sea unhappy Iris Murdoch
aff24b1 Only take someone's hand in a certain way, even look into their eyes in a certain way, and the world is changed forever. gazing holding-hands iris-murdoch irrevocable love romance romantic the-black-prince touch Iris Murdoch
062fa4e You can't magic yourself out of the situation, you've got to live it as decently and as grimly as you can. grim iris-murdoch magic the-message-to-the-planet trapped Iris Murdoch
98756c2 I know girls aren't supposed to tell, but I've got to tell--just in case you should fail to love me because you never knew how much I loved you. I want not to have to say later--I wish I'd told him. declaration-of-love gender-roles henry-and-cato if-only iris-murdoch love romance romantic-love unrequited-love Iris Murdoch
995b2e2 I've been so unhappy for years, so unhappy . . . I don't understand how a human being can be so unhappy all the time and still be alive. iris-murdoch miserable suffering suicidal the-black-prince unending unendurable unhappy Iris Murdoch
374a2b7 Let me sleep at last. I've had misery enough in my life. You said there was nowhere to go to. There is death to go to. I've had misery enough in my life. desperate escape iris-murdoch misery sleep suicidal the-black-prince Iris Murdoch
b05d5c1 I know people can be awful dooms for each other. doom iris-murdoch the-black-prince toxic-people toxic-relationships unhealthy Iris Murdoch
0882153 In a century or two this planet will have been destroyed by external cosmic forces or by the senseless activity of the human race. Human life is a freak phenomenon, soon to be blotted out. That is a consoling thought. Meanwhile we are surrounded by strange invisible entities, possibly your angels." "I hope so." "Ah, you think they are good, they be good, there is no good, the tendency to evil is overwhelming. One has only to think of the .. end-of-the-world humor iris-murdoch misanthrope pessimistic recluse relationship the-green-knight Iris Murdoch
842ef2f God lives and works in history. The outward mythology changes, the inward truth remains the same. mythology Iris Murdoch
c51fc3e La gente no suele saber aplicar la filosofia. Dudo de que ni siquiera los filosofos sepan hacerlo. --La gente puede usar conceptos morales lo mismo que tu has usado ahora el concepto de la verdad para convencerme. Cualquiera puede hacerlo. --Quiza. Pero creo que la filosofia moral es algo que resulta desesperanzadamente personal. No puede ser comunicado. <>, ha dicho Wittgenstein. moral verdad wittgenstein Iris Murdoch
364cdb3 Of course one never knows about other people's loves, and I would certainly never know about James's. love loves other-people private the-sea-the-sea unknowable Iris Murdoch
1453138 If there is any fruitless mental torment which is greater than that of jealousy it is perhaps remorse. Even the pains of loss may be less searching; and often of course these agonies combine, as now they did for me. I say remorse not repentance. I doubt if I have ever experienced repentance in a pure form; perhaps it does not exist in a pure form. Remorse contains guilt, but helpless hopeless guilt which knows of no cure for the painful bit.. guilt iris-murdoch jealousy remorse repentance the-sea-the-sea torment Iris Murdoch
e7c0f3e You talk of freedom -- I've never had it! I've been lonely and miserable and in despair, and you want me to consent to all that all over again! freedom iris-murdoch lonely misery the-message-to-the-planet Iris Murdoch
6c00b72 And suffering we know breeds images, it breeds the most beautiful images of all. contradictory contrasting henry-and-cato images inspiration iris-murdoch juxtaposition suffering Iris Murdoch
36261b7 I took him for a kind of buffoon. Now I see he is a devil. devil enemy first-impression iris-murdoch the-green-knight underestimated Iris Murdoch
d1cf6e8 Give yourself to these great works of art. They suffice for a lifetime. art enduring great-works-of-art iris-murdoch lifetime the-black-prince works-of-art Iris Murdoch
b5e3676 Sometimes I feel I am crammed with demons. demons internal-struggle iris-murdoch possessed the-message-to-the-planet tormented Iris Murdoch
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