Doris Lessing: Lending is Stealing
on Wednesday, August 5, 2020Doris Lessing Money Quote saying lenders are as good as thieves, stealing with interest. Doris Lessing said:
“Borrowing is not much better than begging; just as lending with interest is not much better than stealing” — Doris Lessing
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In this quote, Doris Lessing is drawing a parallel between borrowing/lending money and related but less socially acceptable behaviors. She suggests that borrowing from others is not much different than begging, as it still relies on receiving something of value from another without immediate compensation.
Similarly, lending money with the expectation of interest payments in return is comparable to stealing, as it involves profiting from another’s temporary need or lack without providing an equal service in exchange.
Lessing appears to be criticizing the practice of charging interest on loans as a means of deriving unearned income from those in difficult financial situations.
A deeper interpretation is that she saw both borrowing and lending with interest as exploiting power imbalances for personal gain in ways that are only marginally better than the more openly undesirable acts of begging and stealing.