Doris Lessing

I'm not one of those writers that sits worrying about posthumous fame. ”

If you are a young writer today, it's very hard. ”

The thing is, I haven't changed at all. ”

I do have a sense, and I've never not had it, of how easily things can vanish. ”

Sentimentality is intolerable because it is false feeling. ”

Men are restless, adventurous. Women are conservative - despite what current ideology says. ”

I'm very unhappy when I'm not writing. ”

I never stopped reading. ”

I was a nursemaid. And it was pretty boring. ”

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