Jackson's Dilemma Quotes

“A less courageous person would have felt that it was too late, they would have felt ashamed, they would think wellI don't want this, I know I shall hate it, it's all wrong, but I'm so involved now I'll have to put up with it, and I know that later on I'll keep on wishing that I'd had the nerve to say no, even at the last minute....”
― Iris Murdoch, Jackson's Dilemma

“This was religion, the giving away of oneself, the realisation of how small, like to a grain of dust, one was in the vast misery of the world - and yet how vast the power of goodness, of love, like a great cloud, lifting one up out of the meanness, the deadliness, of the miserable ego. Worship. Ecstasy. These gods - and animals, Shiva with snakes about his neck. Snakes. Kala Nag. Worms, tiny creatures, she picks up off pavements and lays carefully in gardens. Innumerable beings. Shiva with his delicate uplifted hand, smiling upon Parvati, while round about them whirl creatures innumerable. The Ganges, the Thames, Mildred with tears in her eyes, turning away. What chaos, what suffering, such passion, such love, such infinity, she felt faint, she might fall to the ground. These gods - and Christ upon His Cross.”
― Iris Murdoch, Jackson's Dilemma