Doris Lessing

“Some people obtain fame, others deserve it.”

“It is the mark of a stupid man to try to prove himself right in the teeth of facts that cry out against him.”

“There are no laws for the novel. There never have been, nor can there ever be.”

“Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.”

“Small things just seem to happen. They are not worth mentioning. But when you look back, they were turning points.”

“Laughter is by definition healthy.”

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

“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.”

“There is nothing more boring than being in the correct political party.”

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

“You are being hypnotized by your own desire.”

“I don't know what I think until I write it down.”

“Whatever you're meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.”

“There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth.”

“With a library you are never lonely.”

“A writer's job is to tell the truth.”

“You have to be able to imagine lives that are not yours.”

“We are all of us made by history.”

“The function of the storyteller is to be a healing force.”