---
title: "2 Simone Weil Quotes By Iris Murdoch"
description: "2 Simone Weil quotes by Iris Murdoch. Plus more from Iris Murdoch and more Simone Weil sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/858/iris-murdoch-993_active_i-have-used-the-word-attention-which-i-b_49777.png"
---

> [I have used the word "attention," which I borrow from Simone Weil, to express the idea of a just and loving gaze directed upon individual reality. I believe this to be the characteristic and proper mark of the active moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/i-have-used-the-word-attention-which-i-borrow-from-simone-weil-to/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/858/iris-murdoch-993_active_i-have-used-the-word-attention-which-i-b_49777.png)

> [“We need to return from the self-centred concept of sincerity to the other-centred concept of truth. We are not isolated free choosers, monarchs of all we survey, but benighted creatures sunk in a reality whose nature we are constantly and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/we-need-to-return-from-the-self-centred-concept-of-sincerity-to-the/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/25e/iris-murdoch-993_character_we-need-to-return-from-the-self-centred_2235004.jpg)

## More by Iris Murdoch

> [Falling out of love is chiefly a matter of forgetting how charming someone is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/falling-out-of-love-is-chiefly-a-matter-of-forgetting-how-charming/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [One doesn't have to get anywhere in a marriage. It's not a public conveyance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/one-doesn-t-have-to-get-anywhere-in-a-marriage-it-s-not-a-public/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [“I think being a woman is like being Irish... Everyone says you're important and nice, but you take second place all the time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/i-think-being-a-woman-is-like-being-irish-everyone-says-you-re/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the gods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/art-is-the-final-cunning-of-the-human-soul-which-would-rather-do/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [The sending of a letter constitutes a magical grasp upon the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/the-sending-of-a-letter-constitutes-a-magical-grasp-upon-the-future/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [emotions really exist at the bottom of the personality or at the top. in the middle they are acted. this is why all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/emotions-really-exist-at-the-bottom-of-the-personality-or-at-the-top/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [I have used the word "attention," which I borrow from Simone Weil, to express the idea of a just and loving gaze directed upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/i-have-used-the-word-attention-which-i-borrow-from-simone-weil-to/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [Starting a novel is opening a door on a misty landscape; you can still see very little but you can smell the earth and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/starting-a-novel-is-opening-a-door-on-a-misty-landscape-you-can-still/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/art-and-morality-are-with-certain-provisos-one-their-essence-is-the/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [being homosexual doesn't determine a man's whole character any more than being heterosexual does.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/being-homosexual-doesn-t-determine-a-man-s-whole-character-any-more/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [All artists dream of a silence which they must enter, as some creatures return to the sea to spawn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/all-artists-dream-of-a-silence-which-they-must-enter-as-some/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [“Oh if only I could take my mother away and never know of these things again. But it was impossible, the machine would go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/oh-if-only-i-could-take-my-mother-away-and-never-know-of-these-things/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [We defend ourselves by descriptions and tame the world by generalizing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/we-defend-ourselves-by-descriptions-and-tame-the-world-by-generalizing/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [“I'm sorry I was awful. I'm so full of terrors.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/i-m-sorry-i-was-awful-i-m-so-full-of-terrors/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

> [I live, I live, with an absolutely continuous sense of failure. I am always defeated, always. Every book is the wreck of a perfect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/i-live-i-live-with-an-absolutely-continuous-sense-of-failure-i-am/)

[Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/)

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