--- title: "14 Years Quotes By Doris Lessing" description: "14 Years quotes by Doris Lessing. Plus more from Doris Lessing and more Years sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6f/doris-lessing-501_parent_you-have-to-be-grown-up-really-grown-up_1008185.png" --- > [You have to be grown up, really grown up, not merely in years, to understand your parents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/you-have-to-be-grown-up-really-grown-up-not-merely-in-years-to/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6f/doris-lessing-501_parent_you-have-to-be-grown-up-really-grown-up_1008185.png) > [It usually takes me a year to do a book. A year or eighteen months.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/it-usually-takes-me-a-year-to-do-a-book-a-year-or-eighteen-months/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b8/doris-lessing-501_book_it-usually-takes-me-a-year-to-do-a-book_1472532.png) > [You simply don't get to be wise, mature, etc., unless you've been a raving cannibal for thirty years or so.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/you-simply-don-t-get-to-be-wise-mature-etc-unless-you-ve-been-a/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a1/doris-lessing-501_being-wise_you-simply-don-t-get-to-be-wise-mature-e_1723482.png) > [She was thirty-nine. No, she did not envy her eighteen-year- old self at all. But she did envy, envied every day more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/she-was-thirty-nine-no-she-did-not-envy-her-eighteen-year-old-self-at/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7d/doris-lessing-501_aging_she-was-thirty-nine-no-she-did-not-envy_727206.jpg) > [The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/the-great-secret-that-all-old-people-share-is-that-you-really-haven-t/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f9/doris-lessing-501_age_the-great-secret-that-all-old-people-sha_1016869.jpg) > [If what we think now is different from what we thought then, we can take it for granted that what we think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/if-what-we-think-now-is-different-from-what-we-thought-then-we-can/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ade/doris-lessing-501_different_if-what-we-think-now-is-different-from-w_813929.png) > [It is not always possible to know, when you make a note of an event, or a state of mind, how this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/it-is-not-always-possible-to-know-when-you-make-a-note-of-an-event-or/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c1/doris-lessing-501_events_it-is-not-always-possible-to-know-when-y_2936237.jpg) > [You cannot escape the fact that women mould your first five years, whether you like it or not. And I can't say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/you-cannot-escape-the-fact-that-women-mould-your-first-five-years/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cde/doris-lessing-501_cannot_you-cannot-escape-the-fact-that-women-mo_1767197.png) > [Mostly getting old is boring. I hate the stiffness in the bones. I was physically arrogant for years. I don't like it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/mostly-getting-old-is-boring-i-hate-the-stiffness-in-the-bones-i-was/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/172/doris-lessing-501_arrogant_mostly-getting-old-is-boring-i-hate-the_1536038.png) > [So a war begins. Into a peace-time life, comes an announcement, a threat. A bomb drops somewhere, potential traitors are whisked off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/so-a-war-begins-into-a-peace-time-life-comes-an-announcement-a-threat/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/019/doris-lessing-501_announcements_so-a-war-begins-into-a-peace-time-life-c_1131002.jpg) > [Often the mass emotions are those which seem the noblest, best and most beautiful. And yet, inside a year, five years, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/often-the-mass-emotions-are-those-which-seem-the-noblest-best-and/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d47/doris-lessing-501_asking_often-the-mass-emotions-are-those-which_2209963.png) > [London has changed enormously and so have the English in the past decade. They're more like Americans and more like Europeans, too.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/london-has-changed-enormously-and-so-have-the-english-in-the-past/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/364/doris-lessing-501_always-eating_london-has-changed-enormously-and-so-hav_931629.png) > [When you look at my life, you can go back to the late 1930s, what I saw was, first of all, Hitler,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/when-you-look-at-my-life-you-can-go-back-to-the-late-1930s-what-i-saw/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/212/doris-lessing-501_1930s_when-you-look-at-my-life-you-can-go-back_2537111.jpg) > [Because I was permanently confused, dissatisfied, unhappy, tormented by inadequacy, driven by wanting towards every kind of impossible future, the attitude of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/because-i-was-permanently-confused-dissatisfied-unhappy-tormented-by/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06f/doris-lessing-501_attitude_because-i-was-permanently-confused-dissa_2995446.png) ## Other authors on Years ## 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/years/doris-lessing/#itemlist", "name": "14 Years Quotes By Doris Lessing", "numberOfItems": 14, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You have to be grown up, really grown up, not merely in years, to understand your parents.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Doris Lessing" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/you-have-to-be-grown-up-really-grown-up-not-merely-in-years-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6f/doris-lessing-501_parent_you-have-to-be-grown-up-really-grown-up_1008185.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6f/doris-lessing-501_parent_you-have-to-be-grown-up-really-grown-up_1008185.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6f/doris-lessing-501_parent_you-have-to-be-grown-up-really-grown-up_1008185.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You have to be grown up, really grown up, not merely in years, to understand your parents.” — Doris Lessing", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It usually takes me a year to do a book. 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No, she did not envy her eighteen-year- old self at all. But she did envy, envied every day more bitterly, that young girl's genuine independence, largeness, scope, and courage.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Doris Lessing" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/she-was-thirty-nine-no-she-did-not-envy-her-eighteen-year-old-self-at/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7d/doris-lessing-501_aging_she-was-thirty-nine-no-she-did-not-envy_727206.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7d/doris-lessing-501_aging_she-was-thirty-nine-no-she-did-not-envy_727206.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7d/doris-lessing-501_aging_she-was-thirty-nine-no-she-did-not-envy_727206.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“She was thirty-nine. No, she did not envy her eighteen-year- old self at all. 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And I can't say I do like it very much.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Doris Lessing" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/you-cannot-escape-the-fact-that-women-mould-your-first-five-years/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cde/doris-lessing-501_cannot_you-cannot-escape-the-fact-that-women-mo_1767197.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cde/doris-lessing-501_cannot_you-cannot-escape-the-fact-that-women-mo_1767197.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cde/doris-lessing-501_cannot_you-cannot-escape-the-fact-that-women-mo_1767197.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You cannot escape the fact that women mould your first five years, whether you like it or not. 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Things seem less desperately important than they once did, and that's a pleasure.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Doris Lessing" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/mostly-getting-old-is-boring-i-hate-the-stiffness-in-the-bones-i-was/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/172/doris-lessing-501_arrogant_mostly-getting-old-is-boring-i-hate-the_1536038.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/172/doris-lessing-501_arrogant_mostly-getting-old-is-boring-i-hate-the_1536038.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/172/doris-lessing-501_arrogant_mostly-getting-old-is-boring-i-hate-the_1536038.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Mostly getting old is boring. I hate the stiffness in the bones. I was physically arrogant for years. I…” — Doris Lessing", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "So a war begins. Into a peace-time life, comes an announcement, a threat. A bomb drops somewhere, potential traitors are whisked off quietly to prison. And for some time, days, months, a year perhaps, life has a peace-time quality, into which war-like events intrude. But when a war has been going on for a long time, life is all war, every event has the quality of war, nothing of peace remains.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Doris Lessing" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/so-a-war-begins-into-a-peace-time-life-comes-an-announcement-a-threat/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/019/doris-lessing-501_announcements_so-a-war-begins-into-a-peace-time-life-c_1131002.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/019/doris-lessing-501_announcements_so-a-war-begins-into-a-peace-time-life-c_1131002.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/019/doris-lessing-501_announcements_so-a-war-begins-into-a-peace-time-life-c_1131002.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“So a war begins. Into a peace-time life, comes an announcement, a threat. 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And yet, inside a year, five years, a decade, five decades, people will be asking, \"How could you have believed that?\" because events will have taken place that will have banished the said mass emotions to the dustbin of history.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Doris Lessing" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/often-the-mass-emotions-are-those-which-seem-the-noblest-best-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d47/doris-lessing-501_asking_often-the-mass-emotions-are-those-which_2209963.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d47/doris-lessing-501_asking_often-the-mass-emotions-are-those-which_2209963.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d47/doris-lessing-501_asking_often-the-mass-emotions-are-those-which_2209963.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Often the mass emotions are those which seem the noblest, best and most beautiful. 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They're all sitting around in cafés, like the Continentals, drinking coffee and chattering and watching the world go by.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Doris Lessing" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/london-has-changed-enormously-and-so-have-the-english-in-the-past/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/364/doris-lessing-501_always-eating_london-has-changed-enormously-and-so-hav_931629.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/364/doris-lessing-501_always-eating_london-has-changed-enormously-and-so-hav_931629.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/364/doris-lessing-501_always-eating_london-has-changed-enormously-and-so-hav_931629.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“London has changed enormously and so have the English in the past decade. They're more like Americans and…” — Doris Lessing", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 13, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When you look at my life, you can go back to the late 1930s, what I saw was, first of all, Hitler, he was going to live forever. Mussolini was in for 10,000 years. You had the Soviet Union, which was, by definition, going to last forever. There was the British empire -- nobody imagined it could come to an end. 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I don't think I really saw people then, except as appendages to my needs. It's only now, looking back, that I understood, but at the time I lived in a brilliantly lit haze, shifting and flickering according to my changing desires. 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