在數十年的寫作生涯中，萊辛廣為人知的名言佳句有：
that is what learning is. you suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.
some people obtain fame, others deserve it.
think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.
any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so.
there is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second-best is anything but second best.
you only learn to be a better writer by actually writing.
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.
the current publishing scene is extremely good for the big, popular books. they sell them brilliantly, market them and all that. it is not good for the little books.
laughter is by definition healthy.
it is terrible to destr oy a person's picture of himself in the interests of truth or some other abstraction.
what is a hero without love for mankind.
in university they don't tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools.
i have found it to be true that the older i've become the better my life has become.
the great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. your body changes, but you don't change at all. and that, of course, causes great confusion.
for the last third of life there remains only work. it alone is always stimulating, rejuvenating, exciting and satisfying.
this world is run by people who know how to do things. they know how things work. they are equipped. up there, there's a layer of people who run everything. but we -- we're just peasants. we don't understand what's going on, and we can't do anything.
bed is the best place for reading, thinking, or doing nothing.
what's really terrible is to pretend that the second-rate is the first-rate. to pretend that you don't need love when you do, or you like your work when you know quite well you're capable of better.
---中國教師報 （臥松 輯）
譯：
這就是學習。你突然明白，你已經明白所有你的生活，但在一個新的途徑。
有些人獲得名利，別人應得的。
想錯了，如果你請的，但在所有情況下，想為自己。
任何人在任何地方也將百花齊放，在百意想不到的人才和能力，單純由正由於這樣做的機會。
是不是只有一個真正的罪過，那就是說服自己說，第二最好的是什麼，但降格以求。
你只有學會是一個更好的作家，以實際寫作。
我不知道很多創意寫作計畫。但他們沒有說真話，如果他們不教書，一，寫作是勤奮工作，並在兩，你不得不放棄了大量的生命，你的個人生活，是一個作家。
目前出版現場是非常好的，為大受歡迎的書籍。他們出售這些精闢，市場對他們的一切。這是不好的小書。