What a test that is: more than devotion, admiration, passion. If you long and long for someone’s company you love them.
Iris MurdochRead
Perhaps when distant people on other planets pick up some wavelength of ours all they hear is a continuous scream.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that our communication might be perceived differently by others, possibly as chaotic or distressing.
Iris Murdoch's quote reflects on the nature of human expression and the possibility that our signals—be they emotional or verbal—may not be interpreted as intended by others, especially those who are fundamentally different from us. It raises questions about the effectiveness of communication across vast differences, hinting at the potential for misunderstanding and the inherent isolation we may experience in our attempts to connect with others, whether they are near or far.
Themes
CommunicationMisunderstandingDistressExpressionHuman Connection
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on communication barriers, this quote can highlight the challenges in understanding across cultures.
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
For most of us, for almost all of us, truth can be attained, if at all, only in silence. It is in silence that the human spirit touches the divine.
Iris MurdochRead
Similar quotes
Am I embarrassed to speak for a less than perfect democracy? Not one bit. Find me a better one. Do I suppose there are societies which are free of sin? No, I don't. Do I think ours is, on balance, incomparably the most hopeful set of human relations the world has? Yes, I do.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
What is it about our society where anyone who does not have Asperger's gets talked out of their heterodox ideas?
Peter ThielRead
I asked the Zebra, _x000D_ are you black with white stripes? _x000D_ Or white with black stripes? _x000D_ And the zebra asked me, _x000D_ Are you good with bad habits? _x000D_ Or are you bad with good habits?
Shel SilversteinRead
Certain things need to be said if one is to avoid falsifying the problem.
Frantz FanonRead
She just happened to feel like it. Wasn’t that after all, the only reason there was? Had she ever had a less selfish, more complicated reason for doing anything in her life?
Richard YatesRead
Be still. it takes no effort to be still; it is utterly simple. When your mind is still, you have no name, you have no past, you have no relationships, you have no country, you have no spiritual attainment, you have no lack of spiritual attainment. There is just the presence of beingness with itself.
GangajiRead