Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the Gods. — Iris Murdoch
Falling out of love is very enlightening. For a short while you see the world with new eyes. — Iris Murdoch
He was a sociologist; he had got into an intellectual muddle early on in life and never managed to get out. — Iris Murdoch
Literature could be said to be a sort of disciplined technique for arousing certain emotions. — Iris Murdoch
Moralistic is not moral. And as for truth – well, it’s like brown – it’s not in the spectrum. Truth is so generic. — Iris Murdoch
No love is entirely without worth, even when the frivolous calls to the frivolous and the base to the base. — Iris Murdoch
People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us. — Iris Murdoch
Perhaps when distant people on other planets pick up some wavelength of ours all they hear is a continuous scream. — Iris Murdoch
Philosophy! empty thinking by ignorant conceited men who think they can digest without eating! — Iris Murdoch
There is no substitute for the comfort supplied by the utterly taken-for-granted relationship. — Iris Murdoch
We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality. — Iris Murdoch
We shall be better prepared for the future if we see how terrible, how doomed the present is. — Iris Murdoch
Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one’s luck. — Iris Murdoch