“What is happening is something new in my life. I think many people have a sense of shape, of unfolding, in their lives. This sense makes it possible for them to say: Yes, this new person is important to me: he, or she, is the beginning of something I must live through. Or: This emotion, which I have not felt before, is not the alien I believed it to be. It will now be part of me and I must deal with it.It is easy now, looking back over my life to say: That Anna, in that time, was such and such a person. And then, five years later, she was such and such. A year, two years, five years of a certain kind of being can be rolled up and tucked away, or ‘named’ — yes, during that time I was like that. Well now I am in the middle of such a period, and when it is over I shall glance back at it casually and say: Yes, that’s what I was.”

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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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"What is happening is something new in my life. I think many people ha…" — Doris Lessing | Daily Quotes