在数十年的写作生涯中，莱辛广为人知的名言有：
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.
---中国教师报 （卧松 辑）
译：
这就是学习。你突然明白，你已经明白所有你的生活，但在一个新的途径。
有些人获得名利，别人应得的。
想错了，如果你请的，但在所有情况下，想为自己。
任何人在任何地方也将百花齐放，在百意想不到的人才和能力，单纯由正由于这样做的机会。
是不是只有一个真正的罪过，那就是说服自己说，第二最好的是什么，但降格以求。
你只有学会是一个更好的作家，以实际写作。
我不知道很多创意写作计划。但他们没有说真话，如果他们不教书，一，写作是勤奋工作，并在两，你不得不放弃了大量的生命，你的个人生活，是一个作家。
目前出版现场是非常好的，为大受欢迎的书籍。他们出售这些精辟，市场对他们的一切。这是不好的小书。