I believe, not theoretically, but from direct personal experience, that very few of the things that happen to us are purposeless or accidental (and this includes suffering and grief - even that of others), and that sometimes one catches a glimpse of the link between these happenings. I believe - even when I am myself blind and deaf, or even indifferent - in the existence of a mystery.
Iris OrigoThe biographer's real business - if it is not too arrogant to say so - is simply this: to bring the dead to life.
Iris OrigoI do not think that one is likely to write a good biography unless one feels some sympathy with its subject.
Iris OrigoWe are being governed by the dregs of the nation - and their brutality is so capricious that no one can feel certain that he will be safe tomorrow.
Iris Origowhereas in childhood ... it was the parents' judgement that mattered to the child, later on the situation becomes reversed: it is then that the opinions of one's grown-up children become what matters, as well as their kindness.
Iris OrigoI write because, exacting as it may be to do so, it is still more difficult to refrain, and because - however conscious of one's limitations one may be - there is always at the back of one's mind an irrational hope that this next book will be different: it will be the rounded achievement, the complete fulfilment. It never has been: yet I am still writing.
Iris Origo