Top 116 Quotes by Doris Lessing

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

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

In the writing process, the more a story cooks, the better.

I was writing all my childhood. And I wrote two novels when I was 17, which were terrible. And I'm not sorry I threw them out. So, I wrote. I had to write. You know, the thing was, I had no education.

I am always being described as having views that I've never had in my life.

There is nothing more boring for an intelligent woman than to spend endless amounts of time with small children.

It's very interesting what you don't care about.

I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one. I'm delighted to win them all, the whole lot.

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

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.