Art and morality are, with certain provisos…one. Their essence is the same. The essence of both of them is love. Love is the perception of individual… - Iris Murdoch

Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.

Love is the Extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real

Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real. Love, and so art and morals, is the discovery of reality.

The most essential and fundamental aspect of culture is the study of literature, since this is an education in how to picture and understand human situations.

I felt a deep grief that crouched and stayed still as if it was afraid to move.

"It's not my fault! It can't make any difference, can it?"

"You understand nothing. You are a destroyer, a black spiteful destroyer. You are the sort of person who goes around in a dream smashing things . . . You aren't really here at all."