"What society doesn't realize is that in the past, ordinary people respected learning. They respected books, and they don't now, or not very much. That whole respect for serious literature and learning has disappeared."

History

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Insight & Reflection

This reflection on history by Doris Lessing resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in history is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About Doris Lessing

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 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 sequence of five novels collectively called Children of Violence (1952–1969), The Golden Notebook (1962), The Good Terrorist (1985), and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos: Archives (1979–1983).

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Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by Doris Lessing

"What the feminists want of me is something they haven't examined because it comes from religion. They want me to bear witness."

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"I don't know much about creative writing programs. But they're not telling the truth if they don't teach, one, that writing is hard work, and, two, that you have to give up a great deal of life, your personal life, to be a writer."

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More about History

"The roots of genuine insight grow deep in the soil of quiet observation. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history — an essential principle for the reflective life."

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"For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place."

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"A quiet mind perceives the subtle truths that noisy ambitions constantly drown out. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history."

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