--- title: "1 Suddenly Understood Quotes By Doris Lessing" description: "1 Suddenly Understood quotes by Doris Lessing. Plus more from Doris Lessing and more Suddenly Understood sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/78a/doris-lessing-501_memory_he-said-cold-if-you-say-so-i-ve-got-to-b_2725573.jpg" --- > [“He said, cold: “If you say so, I’ve got to believe you.”Then he leaped over at me, and grabbed my shoulders and shook me: “I hate you for being normal, I hate you for it. You’re a normal human being.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/he-said-cold-if-you-say-so-i-ve-got-to-believe-you-then-he-leaped/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/78a/doris-lessing-501_memory_he-said-cold-if-you-say-so-i-ve-got-to-b_2725573.jpg) ## More by Doris Lessing > [Some books are not read in the right way because they have skipped a stage of opinion, assume a crystallization of information in society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/some-books-are-not-read-in-the-right-way-because-they-have-skipped-a/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [“In the morning, when she wishes me to wake, she crouches on my chest, and pats my face with her paw. Or, if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/in-the-morning-when-she-wishes-me-to-wake-she-crouches-on-my-chest/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [You know, whenever women make imaginary female kingdoms in literature, they are always very permissive, to use the jargon word, and easy and generous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/you-know-whenever-women-make-imaginary-female-kingdoms-in-literature/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second best is anything but second best.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-to-persuade-oneself-that-the/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [“She was using the water as she had used the fruit earlier—to calm herself, to assure herself of the possibility of normality. Yet all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/she-was-using-the-water-as-she-had-used-the-fruit-earlier-to-calm/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [I remember World War II when there were very few books, very little paper available. For me to walk into a shop or look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/i-remember-world-war-ii-when-there-were-very-few-books-very-little/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [They can't give a Nobel to someone who's dead so I think they were probably thinking they had better give it to me now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/they-can-t-give-a-nobel-to-someone-who-s-dead-so-i-think-they-were/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [“While she strode rapidly through the ward to the door at the other end, she was able to see that every bed or cot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/while-she-strode-rapidly-through-the-ward-to-the-door-at-the-other/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [I do not think that marriage is one of my talents. I've been much happier unmarried than married.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/i-do-not-think-that-marriage-is-one-of-my-talents-i-ve-been-much/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [I haven't got the energy to write now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/i-haven-t-got-the-energy-to-write-now/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/what-really-fascinates-me-is-this-need-that-is-so-strong-now-that-if/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [“The charge that the United Nations are using bacteriological warfare in Korea cannot be dismissed merely because it would be insane.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/the-charge-that-the-united-nations-are-using-bacteriological-warfare/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [What I did have, which others perhaps didn't, was a capacity for sticking at it, which really is the point, not the talent at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/what-i-did-have-which-others-perhaps-didn-t-was-a-capacity-for/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [The human community is evolving... . We can survive anything you care to mention. We are supremely equipped to survive, to adapt and even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/the-human-community-is-evolving-we-can-survive-anything-you-care-to/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [So love is rest? The cosy corner? The little nook? Sometimes it ought to be. Sometimes it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/so-love-is-rest-the-cosy-corner-the-little-nook-sometimes-it-ought-to/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suddenly-understood/doris-lessing/#itemlist", "name": "1 Suddenly Understood Quotes By Doris Lessing", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“He said, cold: “If you say so, I’ve got to believe you.”Then he leaped over at me, and grabbed my shoulders and shook me: “I hate you for being normal, I hate you for it. You’re a normal human being. What right have you to that? I suddenly understood that you remember everything, you probably remember everything I’ve ever said. You remember everything that’s happened to you, it’s intolerable.”His fingers dug into my shoulders and his face was alive with hatred. I said: “Yes, I do remember everything.”But not in triumph. I was aware of myself as he saw me, a woman inexplicably in command of events, because she could look back and see a smile, a movement, gestures; hear words, explanations—a woman inside time. I disliked the solemnity, the pompousness of that upright little custodian of the truth. When he said: “It’s like being a prisoner, living with someone who knows what you said last week, or can say: three days ago you did so and so,”I could feel a prisoner with him, because I longed to be free of my own ordering, commenting memory. I felt my sense of identity fade. 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