"Oh Christ. I couldnt care less. … I cant say Im overwhelmed with surprise. Im 88 years old and they cant give the Nobel to someone whos dead, so I think they were probably thinking theyd probably better give it to me now before Ive popped off."
Doris May Lessing was a British novelist – sometimes identified as Rhodesian early in her career – and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007. Lessing was born to British parents in Qajar Iran, where she lived until she was 6 in 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia, where she remained until moving to London, England, in 1949. Her novels include The Grass Is Singing (1950), the
"Political correctness is the natural continuum from the party line. What we are seeing once again is a self-appointed group of vigilantes imposing their views on others. It is a heritage of communism, but they dont seem to see this."
"Does political correctness have a good side? Yes, it does, for it makes us re-examine attitudes, and that is always useful. The trouble is that, as with all popular movements, the lunatic fringe so quickly ceases to be a fringe; the tail begins to wag the dog. For every woman or man who is quietly and sensibly using the idea to look carefully at our assumptions, there are twenty rabble-rousers whose real motive is a desire for power over others. The fact that they see themselves as antiracists or feminists or whatever does not make them any less rabble-rousers."
"Better Counsel comes overnight."
"The worst of superstitions is to think Ones own most bearable."
"Man, whence is he? / Too bad to be the work of a god, too good for the work of chance."
"Laughter is by definition healthy."