She wrote over 50 works of fictions and won the Nobel Prize in Literature, among many other awards. Novelist Doris Lessing has died at the age of 94. She was probably best known for her novel, The Golden Notebook. But if you're picturing some sweet old lady typing nice little stories in a cottage in England while sipping tea, let me disabuse you of this image. This year a novella from her collection The Grandmothers was turned into a movie, Adore. It was about two mothers who each fall in love with each other's teenage sons.
Born in Iran to British parents, Lessing grew up in Zimbabwe and stirred up controversy throughout her career. When she was told she'd won the Nobel prize she told a reporter, "Oh Christ!... I couldn't care less." Here are a few of other thought-provoking quotes by Lessing.
Small things amuse small minds.
Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.
Things are not quite so simple always as black and white.
That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.
I do not think that marriage is one of my talents. I've been much happier unmarried than married.
A writer falls in love with an idea and gets carried away.
In university they don't tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools.
With a library you are free, not confined by temporary political climates. It is the most democratic of institutions because no one -- but no one at all -- can tell you what to read and when and how.
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.
Whatever you're meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.
Have you read any of Doris Lessing's fiction?
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