“I don’t want to be told when I wake up, terrified by a dream of total annihilation, because of the H-bomb exploding, that people felt that way about the cross-bow. It isn’t true. There is something new in the world. And I don’t want to hear, when I’ve had an encounter with some mogul in the film industry, who wields the kind of power over men’s minds that no emperor ever did, and I come back feeling trampled on all over, that Lesbia felt like that after an encounter with her wine-merchant. And I don’t want to be told when I suddenly have a vision (though God knows it’s hard enough to come by) of a life that isn’t full of hatred and fear and envy and competition every minute of the night and the day that this is simply the old dream of the golden age brought up to date …”

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Originally said in English.

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About Doris Lessing

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.

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"I don’t want to be told when I wake up, terrified by a dream of total…" — Doris Lessing | Daily Quotes