It is terrible to destroy a persons picture of himself in the interests of truth or some other abstraction. – Doris Lessing
What society doesnt realize is that in the past, ordinary people respected learning. They respected books, and they dont now, or not very much. That whole respect for serious literature and learning has disappeared. – Doris Lessing
Theres an unconscious bias in our society: girls are wonderful boys are terrible. And to be a boy, or young man, growing up, having to listen to all this, it must be painful. – Doris Lessing
What really fascinates me is this need that is so strong now that if you read a work of the imagination you instantly have to say, Oh, what this really is is so-and-so, reducing it to a simple formula. – Doris Lessing
Reclaiming the word fat was the most empowering step in my progress. I stopped using it for insult or degradation and instead replaced it with truth, because the truth is that I am fat, and thats ok. So now when someone calls me fat, I agree, whereas before I would get embarrassed and emotional. – Beth Ditto