“Do you know what people really want? Everyone, I mean. Everybody in the world is thinking: I wish there was just one other person I could really talk to, who could really understand me, who'd be kind to me. That's what people really want, if they're telling the truth.”

British novelist and Nobel laureate in Literature, 1995. Her work spans decades, from early socialist fiction to later explorations of human consciousness and the complexities of aging. Known for novels like *The Golden Notebook* and *The Grass Is Singing*, she also wrote short stories and plays, often examining power, gender, and the search for meaning.