What a test that is: more than devotion, admiration, passion. If you long and long for someoneβs company you love them.
Iris MurdochRead
Our actions are like ships which we may watch set out to sea, and not know when or with what cargo they will return to port.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our actions can lead to unpredictable outcomes.
The quote from Iris Murdoch reflects on the uncertainty of the consequences of our actions. Just as ships leave port with unknown destinations and uncertain returns, so too do our actions take on a life of their own, leading to outcomes that we may not anticipate, making it essential to embrace the unpredictability of life.
Themes
ActionsUnpredictabilityConsequencesLifeJourney
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech to highlight the importance of embracing unknown paths.
More from Iris Murdoch
All quotes βThe bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.
Iris MurdochRead
Man's creative struggle, his search for wisdom and truth, is a love story.
Iris MurdochRead
All art deals with the absurd and aims at the simple. Good art speaks truth, indeed is truth, perhaps the only truth.
Iris MurdochRead
A bad review is even less important than whether it is raining in Patagonia.
Iris MurdochRead
Perhaps when distant people on other planets pick up some wavelength of ours all they hear is a continuous scream.
Iris MurdochRead
Similar quotes
To be convinced in our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God by grace alone is the hardest thing.
Martin LutherRead
Time and again we see leaders and members of religions incite aggression, fanaticism, hate, and xenophobia - even inspire and legitimate violent and bloody conflicts.
Hans KungRead
Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest. The maple and the pine may whisper to each other with their leaves ... But the trees also commingle their roots in the darkness underground, and the islands also hang together through the ocean's bottom.
William JamesRead
If you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the people He gives it to.
Dorothy ParkerRead
The truth of the matter is, you die, all you do is die, and yet you live, yes you live, and that's no Harvard lie.
Jack KerouacRead
Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts.
Jean CocteauRead