1,162 Quotes by Iris Murdoch

Please excuse this outpouring which perhaps makes no sense but is the utter darkness of my spirit pouring from me like black blood.

You're doing your thing, why can't I do my thing? I must be me even if I suffer for it.

We are such inward secret creatures, that inwardness the most amazing thing about us, even more amazing than our reason. But we cannot just walk into the cavern and look around. Most of what we think we know about our minds is pseudo-knowledge. We are all such shocking poseurs, so good at inflating the importance of what we think we value.

Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.

And she shivered with a dazzled joy.

Henry's joy left him abruptly and he began anxiously to think about himself.

Only the very greatest art invigorates without consoling.

I want you to be able to see me, and as my love for you is so much of me (all of me, making me more than myself) then you must see that too.

I am not a neurotic!""You're trembling with nerves and sensibility—""Of course I am, I'm an artist!