Inspiration for all women

In 1934 she dropped out of school at the age of fourteen. In 2007, two weeks short of her 88th birthday, Doris Lessing, one of the great female intellectuals of our century, is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

Although I could never be as presumptious as to put myself in the same category as Lessing, I can relate to her life and experiences as a woman, and she has served as a great source of reading-satisfaction and inspiration to me over the past years.

Lessing is a largely self-taught author who has drawn heavily from her time living in Africa, exploring the divide between whites and blacks, in much of her writing. Because of her criticism of the South Africa's former apartheid system, she was even prohibited from entering the country between 1956 and 1995.

Lessing however, is probably best known for her exploration of the male-female relationship in "The Golden Notebook", published in 1962 and considered by many a feminist classic, although Lessing does not consider the book to be a political statement.

Personally, I think Lessing deserves our respect not only for winning the world's foremost prize in literature, but also for the example she sets as a woman. For the way in which she has led her life, always questioning the status-quo, never taking 'the path of least resistance', always expecting the best of herself and living her life to the full - regardless of society's views of her choices. In this alone, she is already a memorable example to us all.

Here some memorable quotes by Doris Lessing