“There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second best is anything but second best.”
Best
“When there's a war, people get married.”
WarAll Quotes by Doris Lessing
“Space or science fiction has become a dialect for our time.”
Science“I wanted to highlight that whole dreadful process in book publishing that 'nothing succeeds like success.'”
Success“I don't think that the feminist movement has done much for the characters of women.”
Women“For the last third of life there remains only work. It alone is always stimulating, rejuvenating, exciting and satisfying.”
Alone“There was a time when young people respected learning and literature and now they don't.”
Learning“My father was in the First World War.”
War“Sometimes I think what I write is funny in its quiet way.”
Funny“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.”
Age“I do not think that marriage is one of my talents. I've been much happier unmarried than married.”
Marriage“I hate Iran. I hate the Iranian government. It's a cruel and evil government.”
Government“Our society is dependent on some precarious mechanisms, and they are very dicey. They can easily collapse.”
Society“I think kids ought to travel. I think it's very good to carry kids around. It's good for them. Of course it's tough on the parents.”
Travel“All my friends' mothers were appalling women.”
Women“I think a lot of romanticizing has gone on with the women's movement.”
Women“We use our parents like recurring dreams, to be entered into when needed.”
Dreams“I don't know much about creative writing programs. But they're not telling the truth if they don't teach, one, that writing is hard work, and, two, that you have to give up a great deal of life, your personal life, to be a writer.”
Truth“When there's a war, people get married.”
War“That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.”
Learning“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.”
Imagination