The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion. Doris Lessing on age
For the last third of life there remains only work. It alone is always stimulating, rejuvenating, exciting and satisfying. Doris Lessing on alone
There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second best is anything but second best. Doris Lessing on best
The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion. Doris Lessing on change
We use our parents like recurring dreams, to be entered into when needed. Doris Lessing on dreams
Sometimes I think what I write is funny in its quiet way. Doris Lessing on funny
I hate Iran. I hate the Iranian government. It's a cruel and evil government. Doris Lessing on government
The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion. Doris Lessing on great
September 11 was terrible but, if one goes back over the history of the IRA, what happened to the Americans wasn't that terrible. Doris Lessing on history
What really fascinates me is this need that is so strong now that if you read a work of the imagination you instantly have to say, 'Oh, what this really is is so-and-so,' reducing it to a simple formula. Doris Lessing on imagination
That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way. Doris Lessing on learning
In university they don't tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools. Doris Lessing on learning
There was a time when young people respected learning and literature and now they don't. Doris Lessing on learning
What society doesn't realize is that in the past, ordinary people respected learning. They respected books, and they don't now, or not very much. That whole respect for serious literature and learning has disappeared. Doris Lessing on learning
I do not think that marriage is one of my talents. I've been much happier unmarried than married. Doris Lessing on marriage
It's lovely to have money to give away - that's the bonus of winning the Nobel. Doris Lessing on money
When you're young you think that you're going to sail into a lovely lake of quietude and peace. This is profoundly untrue. Doris Lessing on peace
What the feminists want of me is something they haven't examined because it comes from religion. They want me to bear witness. Doris Lessing on religion
What society doesn't realize is that in the past, ordinary people respected learning. They respected books, and they don't now, or not very much. That whole respect for serious literature and learning has disappeared. Doris Lessing on respect
Space or science fiction has become a dialect for our time. Doris Lessing on science