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J.M. Coetzee Quotes

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J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "The writers who have the deepest influence on one are those one reads in ones more impressionable, early life, and often it is the more youthful works of those writers that leave the deepest imprint."

The writers who have the deepest influence on one are those one reads in ones more impressionable, early life, and often it is the more youthful works of those writers that leave the deepest imprint.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "When all else fails, philosophize."

When all else fails, philosophize.




J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "We must cultivate, all of us, a certain ignorance, a certain blindness, or society will not be tolerable."

We must cultivate, all of us, a certain ignorance, a certain blindness, or society will not be tolerable.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "I know somewhat too much; and from this knowledge, once one has been infected, there seems to be no recovering."

I know somewhat too much; and from this knowledge, once one has been infected, there seems to be no recovering.




J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "But he cannot see a connection between the end of yearning and the end of poetry. Is that what growing up amounts to: growing out of yearning, of passion, of all intensities of the soul?"

But he cannot see a connection between the end of yearning and the end of poetry. Is that what growing up amounts to: growing out of yearning, of passion, of all intensities of the soul?



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "All creatures come into the world bringing with them the memory of justice."

All creatures come into the world bringing with them the memory of justice.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "I don't think we are ready to die, any of us, not without being escorted."

I don't think we are ready to die, any of us, not without being escorted.




J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "A book should be an axe to chop open the frozen sea inside us."

A book should be an axe to chop open the frozen sea inside us.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Become major, Paul. Live like a hero. That's what the classics teach us. Be a main character. Otherwise what is life for?"

Become major, Paul. Live like a hero. That's what the classics teach us. Be a main character. Otherwise what is life for?



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "In my experience poetry speaks to you either at first sight or not at all. A flash of revelation and a flash of response. Like lightning. Like falling in love."

In my experience poetry speaks to you either at first sight or not at all. A flash of revelation and a flash of response. Like lightning. Like falling in love.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Because a women's beauty does not belong to her alone. It is a part of the bounty she brings into the world. She has a duty to share it."

Because a women's beauty does not belong to her alone. It is a part of the bounty she brings into the world. She has a duty to share it.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Strictly speaking, my interest is not in legal rights for animals but in a change of heart towards animals."

Strictly speaking, my interest is not in legal rights for animals but in a change of heart towards animals.




J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Words are coin. Words alienate. Language is no medium for desire. Desire is rapture, not exchange."

Words are coin. Words alienate. Language is no medium for desire. Desire is rapture, not exchange.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Belief may be no more, in the end, than a source of energy, like a battery which one clips into an idea to make it run."

Belief may be no more, in the end, than a source of energy, like a battery which one clips into an idea to make it run.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "I am not the we of anyone"

I am not the we of anyone



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "From one seed a whole handful: that was what it meant to say the bounty of the earth."

From one seed a whole handful: that was what it meant to say the bounty of the earth.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "The highest type of intelligence, says Aristotle, manifests itself in an ability to see connections where no one has seen them before, that is, to think analogically."

The highest type of intelligence, says Aristotle, manifests itself in an ability to see connections where no one has seen them before, that is, to think analogically.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Reason is simply a vast tautology."

Reason is simply a vast tautology.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "I am corrupted to the bone with the beauty of this forsaken world."

I am corrupted to the bone with the beauty of this forsaken world.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "The mode of consciousness of nonhuman species is quite different from human consciousness."

The mode of consciousness of nonhuman species is quite different from human consciousness.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Perhaps; but I am a difficult person to live with. My difficulty consists in not wanting to live with other people."

Perhaps; but I am a difficult person to live with. My difficulty consists in not wanting to live with other people.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Sleep is no longer a healing bath, a recuperation of vital forces, but an oblivion, a nightly brush with annihilation."

Sleep is no longer a healing bath, a recuperation of vital forces, but an oblivion, a nightly brush with annihilation.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "His own opinion, which he does not air, is that the origin of speech lie in song, and the origins of song in the need to fill out with sound the overlarge and rather empty human soul."

His own opinion, which he does not air, is that the origin of speech lie in song, and the origins of song in the need to fill out with sound the overlarge and rather empty human soul.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Long visits don't make for good friends."

Long visits don't make for good friends.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Where civilization entailed the corruption of barbarian virtues and the creation of dependent people, I decided, I was opposed to civilization."

Where civilization entailed the corruption of barbarian virtues and the creation of dependent people, I decided, I was opposed to civilization.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "I must not fall asleep in the middle of my life. Out of the blankness that surrounds me I must pluck the incident after incident after incident whose little explosions keep me going."

I must not fall asleep in the middle of my life. Out of the blankness that surrounds me I must pluck the incident after incident after incident whose little explosions keep me going.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "The spark of true poetry flashes when ideas are juxtaposed that no one has yet thought of bringing together."

The spark of true poetry flashes when ideas are juxtaposed that no one has yet thought of bringing together.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Pain is truth; all else is subject to doubt."

Pain is truth; all else is subject to doubt.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Unbelief is a belief."

Unbelief is a belief.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "The barbarians come out at night."

The barbarians come out at night.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "There seemed nothing to do but live."

There seemed nothing to do but live.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "It gets harder all the time, Bev Shaw once said. Harder, yet easier. One gets used to things getting harder; one ceases to be surprised that what used to be hard as hard can be grows harder yet."

It gets harder all the time, Bev Shaw once said. Harder, yet easier. One gets used to things getting harder; one ceases to be surprised that what used to be hard as hard can be grows harder yet.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "I speak to the broken halves of all our selves and tell them to embrace, loving the worst in us equally with the best."

I speak to the broken halves of all our selves and tell them to embrace, loving the worst in us equally with the best.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "The most important of all rights is the right to life, and I cannot foresee a day when domesticated animals will be granted that right in law."

The most important of all rights is the right to life, and I cannot foresee a day when domesticated animals will be granted that right in law.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "I tend to resist invitations to interpret my own fiction."

I tend to resist invitations to interpret my own fiction.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "I say that I represent this movement because my intellectual allegiances are clearly European, not African."

I say that I represent this movement because my intellectual allegiances are clearly European, not African.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "If I, this mortal shell, am going to die, let me at least live on through my creations."

If I, this mortal shell, am going to die, let me at least live on through my creations.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Despair ... is like a gas, odourless, tasteless, without nourishment. You breathe it in, your limbs relax, you cease to care, even at the moment when the steel touches your throat."

Despair ... is like a gas, odourless, tasteless, without nourishment. You breathe it in, your limbs relax, you cease to care, even at the moment when the steel touches your throat.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "For himself, then. For his idea of the world, a world in which men do not use shovels to beat corpses into a more convenient shape for processing."

For himself, then. For his idea of the world, a world in which men do not use shovels to beat corpses into a more convenient shape for processing.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "The end of confession is to tell the truth to and for oneself."

The end of confession is to tell the truth to and for oneself.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "I said last week that the number on Jean's back does not matter. He stays effective as a runner, decision-maker and leader."

I said last week that the number on Jean's back does not matter. He stays effective as a runner, decision-maker and leader.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Being a father ... I can't help feeling that, by comparison with being a mother, being a father is a rather abstract business."

Being a father ... I can't help feeling that, by comparison with being a mother, being a father is a rather abstract business.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Temperament is fixed, set. The skull, followed by the temperament: the two hardest parts of the body. Follow your temperament. It is not a philosophy, It is a rule, like the Rule of St Benedict."

Temperament is fixed, set. The skull, followed by the temperament: the two hardest parts of the body. Follow your temperament. It is not a philosophy, It is a rule, like the Rule of St Benedict.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Unimaginable perhaps; but the unimaginable is there to be imagined."

Unimaginable perhaps; but the unimaginable is there to be imagined.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "If there were a better, clearer, shorter way of saying what the fiction says, then why not scrap the fiction?"

If there were a better, clearer, shorter way of saying what the fiction says, then why not scrap the fiction?



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "Once I lived in time as a fish in water, breathing it, drinking it, sustained by it. Now I kill time and time kills me."

Once I lived in time as a fish in water, breathing it, drinking it, sustained by it. Now I kill time and time kills me.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "It is a world of words that creates a world of things."

It is a world of words that creates a world of things.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "The devil is everywhere under the skin of things, searching for a way into the light."

The devil is everywhere under the skin of things, searching for a way into the light.



J.M. Coetzee Quotes: "You are going to end up as one of those sad old men who poke around in rubbish bins.” “I’m going to end up in a hole in the ground... And so are you. So are we all."

You are going to end up as one of those sad old men who poke around in rubbish bins.” “I’m going to end up in a hole in the ground... And so are you. So are we all.