Quotes from Doris Lessing

Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroyeth much good.

Bad luck for both of us, we are both boulder-pushers.

You cannot escape the fact that women mould your first five years, whether you like it or not. And I can't say I do like it very much.

When young I did my best to undo that bit of the British Empire I found myself in: that is, old Southern Rhodesia.

Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so.

The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.

Africa gives you the knowledge that man is a small creature, among other creatures, in a large landscape.

I'm very unhappy when I'm not writing.

The freedom of women was achieved by two things: One, the Pill. Two... by labour-saving devices like the washing machine. By science, not feminism.

All my friends' mothers were appalling women.

I don't think that the feminist movement has done much for the characters of women.

Sometimes I dislike women, I dislike us all, because of our capacity for not-thinking when it suits us; we choose not to think when we are reaching our for happiness.

Growing up is, after all, only the understanding that one's unique and incredible experience is what every one shares.

A woman writer, quitting love before literature when love lets her down, will put literature before love.

Oh, I simply can't think. When I really want to depress myself, I think of all the brilliant men I know, married to their stupid wives. Enough to break your heart, it really is

Borrowing is not much better than begging; just as lending with interest is not much better than stealing.

They can't give a Nobel to someone who's dead so I think they were probably thinking they had better give it to me now before I popped off.

There are no laws for the novel. There never have been, nor can there ever be.

I do not think that marriage is one of my talents. I've been much happier unmarried than married.

When you're young you think that you're going to sail into a lovely lake of quietude and peace. This is profoundly untrue.

What's terrible is to pretend that second-rate is first-rate. To pretend that you don't need love when you do; or you like your work when you know quite well you're capable of better.

Whenever I met anyone who knew anything, I would bore them stiff until they told me what they knew.

I never stopped reading.

Trust no friend without faults, and love a maiden, but no angel.