What a test that is: more than devotion, admiration, passion. If you long and long for someone’s company you love them.
Iris MurdochRead
Reading and writing and the preservation of language and its forms and the kind of eloquence and the kind of beauty which the language is capable of is terribly important to the human beings because this is connected to thought.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The importance of language and eloquence is crucial to human thought and communication.
Iris Murdoch emphasizes the vital role that reading, writing, and the preservation of language play in shaping human thought and expression. She suggests that language is not merely a tool for communication but is deeply connected to our ability to think, articulate beauty, and convey meaning effectively.
Themes
LanguageEloquenceThoughtWritingReadingCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the power of literature, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of language.
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All art deals with the absurd and aims at the simple. Good art speaks truth, indeed is truth, perhaps the only truth.
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A bad review is even less important than whether it is raining in Patagonia.
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Perhaps when distant people on other planets pick up some wavelength of ours all they hear is a continuous scream.
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