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
What a test that is: more than devotion, admiration, passion. If you long and long for someone’s company you love them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True love involves a deep longing for someone's presence and connection.
In this quote, Iris Murdoch emphasizes that love transcends mere feelings of devotion, admiration, or passion. The longing for someone's company signifies a profound connection that reflects true love, where the desire to be with someone is a key indicator of genuine affection and bond.
Themes
LoveLongingAffectionDevotionConnection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote would be perfect to share at a wedding to emphasize the beauty of longing in love.
More from Iris Murdoch
All quotes →Man's creative struggle, his search for wisdom and truth, is a love story.
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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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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.
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