574 Quotes by Doris Lessing

Writers, and particularly female writers, have to fight for the conditions they need to work ...

We, as a society, can't tolerate very much difference.

I didn't go to school much, so I taught myself what I knew from reading.

People who have lived through a war know that as it approaches, an at first secret, unacknowledged, elation begins, as if an almost inaudible drum is beating ... an awful, illicit, violent excitement is abroad. Then the elation becomes too strong to be ignored or overlooked: then everyone is possessed by it.

Cats mean kittens, plentiful and frequent.

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

The critics slap labels on you and then expect you to talk inside their terms.

Intelligence forbids tears.

Is there any delight as great as the child's discovering ability?