Starting a novel is opening a door on a misty landscape; you can still see very little but you can smell the earth and feel the wind blowing.
Iris MurdochThere is a gulf fixed between those who can sleep and those who cannot. It is one of the greatest divisions of the human race.
Iris MurdochLiterature could be said to be a sort of disciplined technique for arousing certain emotions.
Iris MurdochThe talk of lovers who have just declared their love is one of life's most sweet delights. Each vies with the other in humility, in amazement at being so valued. The past is searched for the first signs and each one is in haste to declare all that he is so that no part of his being escapes the hallowing touch.
Iris Murdoch