Quotes by Lessing, Doris

"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."

Lessing, Doris on age and aging   

"This world is run by people who know how to do things. They know how things work. They are equipped. Up there, there's a layer of people who run everything. But we --we're just peasants. We don't understand what's going on, and we can't do anything."

Lessing, Doris on experts   

"Some people obtain fame, others deserve it."

Lessing, Doris on fame   

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

Lessing, Doris on faults
6 fans of this quote   

"What is a hero without love for mankind."

Lessing, Doris on heroes and heroism
3 fans of this quote   

"Man who is he? Too bad, to be the work of God: Too good for the work of chance!"

Lessing, Doris on humankind   

"Laughter is by definition healthy."

Lessing, Doris on laughter   

"That's what learning is. You suddenly understand something you understood all your life, but in a new way."

Lessing, Doris on learning   

"Literature is analysis after the event."

Lessing, Doris on literature   

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

Lessing, Doris on love
3 fans of this quote   

"Political correctness is the natural continuum from the party line. What we are seeing once again is a self-appointed group of vigilantes imposing their views on others. It is a heritage of communism, but they don't seem to see this."

Lessing, Doris on political correctness   

"A simple grateful thought turned heavenwards is the most perfect prayer."

Lessing, Doris on prayer   

"It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important."

Lessing, Doris on priorities   

"Space or science fiction has become a dialect for our time."

Lessing, Doris on science   

"It is terrible to destroy a person's picture of himself in the interests of truth or some other abstraction."

Lessing, Doris on self-image   

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

Lessing, Doris on borrowing   

"If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air."

Lessing, Doris on cats   

"The worst superstition is to consider our own tolerable."

Lessing, Doris on superstition   

"Pearls mean tears."

Lessing, Doris on tears   

"In university they don't tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools."

Lessing, Doris on colleges and universities   

"Better Counsel comes overnight."

Lessing, Doris on counsel   

"Er zijn geen wetmatigheden voor de roman. Er zijn er nooit geweest en er zullen er nooit zijn"

Lessing, Doris on roman   

"Literatuur is de analyse na een gebeurtenis"

Lessing, Doris on literatuur   

"Ik weet niet veel over cursussen creatief schrijven. Maar ze vertellen de waarheid niet als er niet geleerd wordt dat schrijven hard werk is en dat je een groot deel van je (persoonlijk) leven moet opgeven om een schrijver te zijn"

Lessing, Doris on creatief schrijven   

"Met een bibliotheek ben je vrij en niet beperkt door tijdelijke politieke klimaten. Het is de meest democratische van alle instituten want niemand, absoluut niemand, kan u zeggen wat u moet lezen en wanneer en hoe."

Lessing, Doris on bibliotheek