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.
Doris Lessing

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

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

Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.
Doris Lessing

Literature is analysis after the event.
Doris Lessing

Pearls mean tears.
Doris Lessing

Some people obtain fame, others deserve it.
Doris Lessing

I don't know much about creative writing programs. But they're not telling the truth if they don't teach, one, that writing is hard work, and, two, that you have to give up a great deal of life, your personal life, to be a writer.
Doris Lessing