Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing CHwas a British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, the sequence of five novels collectively called Children of Violence, The Golden Notebook, The Good Terrorist, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos: Archives...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth22 October 1919
Doris Lessing quotes about
fools greater law learning tolerate university
In the university they don't tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools
atmosphere badly both brought child children damaged exactly mentally war
The World War I, I'm a child of World War I. And I really know about the children of war. Because both my parents were both badly damaged by the war. My father, physically, and both mentally and emotionally. So, I know exactly what it's like to be brought up in an atmosphere of a continual harping on the war.
absolutely british countries empire european people
When I was a girl, the idea that the British Empire could ever end was absolutely inconceivable. And it just disappeared, like all the other empires. You know, when people talk about the British Empire, they always forget that all the European countries had empires.
thank-you prayer grateful
A simple grateful thought turned heavenwards is the most perfect prayer.
learning memorable college
In university they don't tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools.
literature events analysis
Literature is analysis after the event.
fiction records factual
I have to conclude that fiction is better at 'the truth' than a factual record,
loneliness people spirit
Loneliness, she thought, was craving for other people's company. But she did not know that loneliness can be an unnoticed cramping of the spirit for lack of companionship.
black-and-white men differences
I'm always astounded at the way we automatically look at what divides and separates us. We never look at what people have in common. If you see it, black and white people, both sides look to see the differences, they don't look at what they have together. Men and women, and old and young, and so on. And this is a disease of the mind, the way I see it. Because in actual fact, men and women have much more in common than they are separated.
months october unendurable
What of October, that ambiguous month, the month of tension, the unendurable month?
generations literature found
For she was of that generation who, having found nothing in religion, had formed themselves through literature.
labels term critics
The critics slap labels on you and then expect you to talk inside their terms.
old-friends want wells
...or like an old friend one has known too well and doesn't want to see.
southern empires young
When young I did my best to undo that bit of the British Empire I found myself in: that is, old Southern Rhodesia.