I was realizing something I should have known by using my intelligence, without ever having gone to their flat at all: that the ties between Nelson and his wife are bitterly close, and never to be broken in their lives. They are tied by the closest of all bonds, neurotic pain-giving; the experience of pain dealt and received; pain as an aspect of love; apprehended as a knowledge of what the world is, what growth is.Nelson is about to leave his wife; he will never leave her. She will wail at being rejected and abandoned; she does not know she will never be rejected.

About This Quote

About Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing was a 20th-century British novelist. 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. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Love — Quotes exploring romantic love, compassion, and human connection
  • Marriage — Partnership, commitment, and the journey of shared life

More quotes by Doris Lessing

Related Quotes