Iris Murdoch: Quotes about people

Iris Murdoch was British writer and philosopher. Explore interesting quotes on people.

Iris Murdoch: 122 quotes21 likes

“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 book A Fairly Honourable Defeat

A Fairly Honourable Defeat (1970); 2001, p. 170.

“One should go easy on smashing other people's lies. Better to concentrate on one's own.”

Iris Murdoch book Henry and Cato

Source: Henry and Cato

“Perhaps when distant people on other planets pick up some wave-length of ours all they hear is a continuous scream.”

Iris Murdoch book The Message to the Planet

The Message to the Planet (1989) p. 509.

“People have obsessions and fears and passions which they don't admit to. I think every character is interesting and has extremes. It's the novelist privilege to see how odd everyone is.”

“The novel, the novel proper that is, is about people's treatment of each other, and so it is about human values.”

Iris Murdoch Sartre: Romantic Rationalist

Source: Sartre: Romantic Rationalist (1953), Ch. 10, p. 138

“Only lies and evil come from letting people off.”

Iris Murdoch book A Severed Head

A Severed Head (1961); 1976, p. 61.