Iris Murdoch Quotes on Life
Iris Murdoch, the British philosopher and novelist, treated the good life as a matter of moral attention and the overcoming of self, and the quotes gathered here, drawn largely from her novels, express it. Her central conviction is stated plainly: the chief requirement of the good life is to live without any image of oneself, since the moral task is to see other people and the world truthfully, undistorted by the demands of the ego. Murdoch was an acute observer of how vanity and pride deform a life, suggesting that more people kill themselves and others out of hurt vanity than out of envy or revenge. Alongside this severity she allowed a lighter wisdom, that one secret of a happy life is continuous small treats. Drawn from her fiction, these passages present life as a discipline of selfless attention.
Quotes
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Attributed to Iris Murdoch:
“One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats.”
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“Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.”
The Black Prince (1973); 2003, p. 10. -
“He felt neither guilt nor distress at the pleasure with which he was now filled by the proximity of this young creature, and when he discovered in himself even physical symptoms of his inclination he did not take fright, but continued cheerfully and serenely to see Nick whenever the ordinary run of his duties suggested it, congratulating himself upon the newly achieved solidity and rational calm of his spiritual life.”
The Bell (1958) p. 91 -
“The chief requirement of the good life... is to live without any image of oneself.”
The Bell (1958), ch. 9; 2001, p. 119. -
“Whit Meynell was a sociologist; he had got into an intellectual muddle early on in life and never managed to get out.”
The Philosopher's Pupil (1983) p. 165. -
“The sin of pride may be a small or a great thing in someone's life, and hurt vanity a passing pinprick or a self-destroying or even murderous obsession. Possibly, more people kill themselves and others out of hurt vanity than out of envy, jealousy, malice or desire for revenge.”
The Philosopher's Pupil (1983) p. 76.