"I don't think that the feminist movement has done much for the characters of women."

Philosophy

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Philosophy as articulated by Doris Lessing. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Philosophy provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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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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More by Doris Lessing

"All my friends' mothers were appalling women."

— Doris Lessing
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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."

— Doris Lessing
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"You cannot escape the fact that women mould your first five years, whether you like it or not. And I can't say I do like it very much."

— Doris Lessing
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"I wanted to highlight that whole dreadful process in book publishing that 'nothing succeeds like success.'"

— Doris Lessing
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More about Philosophy

"I was very clear that I wanted to keep 'Thor' out of the rest of the Marvel universe for no less than the first six issues. And the success of the book, I think, speaks well to that decision."

— J. Michael Straczynski
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"Acting is what I love to do. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I don't think of it as work. It's really fun for me."

— Dakota Fanning
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"I know why most people never get rich. They put the money ahead of the job. If you just think of the job, the money will automatically follow. This never fails."

— Hedy Lamarr
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"The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water."

— John W. Gardner
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