What a test that is: more than devotion, admiration, passion. If you long and long for someone’s company you love them.
Iris MurdochRead
Every artist is an unhappy lover. And unhappy lovers want to tell their story.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Artists often express their emotional pain through their work, particularly from love-related struggles.
This quote by Iris Murdoch suggests that artists, driven by their own experiences of love and heartache, create art as a means of storytelling. The unhappy lover's desire to articulate their feelings mirrors the artist's impulse to convey their internal struggles through creative expression. Both seek to connect with others and share their emotional truth, making art a refuge for those deeply affected by love.
Themes
ArtistLoveStoryUnhappinessEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the struggles of artists at a gallery opening.
More from Iris Murdoch
All quotes →The 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
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