J. M. Coetzee Quotes

J. M. Coetzee
J. M. Coetzee
South African Author
Born: Feb 9, 1940
Animals Life Own People World Writing
Related authors: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn C. S. Lewis Frederick Douglass George Orwell Helen Keller Henry David Thoreau Mark Twain Zig Ziglar
Lebanon, Israel, Ireland, South Africa - wherever there is a bleeding sore on the body of the world, the same hard-eyed narrow-minded fanatics are busy, indifferent to life, in love with death. J. M. Coetzee
Life Love Death World South Africa Busy Indifferent Bleeding Sore Narrow-Minded Israel Lebanon South Ireland Same Africa Wherever Fanatics Body
All autobiography is storytelling; all writing is autobiography. J. M. Coetzee
Writing Autobiography Storytelling
There is nothing more inimical to writing than the spirit of fundamentalism. Fundamentalism abhors the play of signs, the endlessness of writing. Fundamentalism means nothing more or less than going back to an origin and staying there. It stands for one founding book and, thereafter, no more books. J. M. Coetzee
Book Writing Signs Nothing Back Books Abhors Staying Spirit More More Or Less Than Going Means Less Stands Thereafter Origin Play Founding Fundamentalism
I tend to resist invitations to interpret my own fiction. J. M. Coetzee
Own My Own Tend Invitations Fiction Interpret Resist
We are not by nature cruel. J. M. Coetzee
Nature Cruel
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
Life Day Rights Law Will Animals Important Most Foresee Domesticated The Most Important Cannot Granted Right
Strictly speaking, my interest is not in legal rights for animals but in a change of heart towards animals. J. M. Coetzee
Change Rights Heart Legal Animals Strictly Strictly Speaking Towards Legal Rights Interest Speaking
My response, a dubious and hesitant one, is that it has been and may continue to be, in the time that is left to me, more productive to live out the question than to try to answer it in abstract terms. J. M. Coetzee
Time Me Try Live Hesitant Out Response Has-Been More Abstract Terms Answer Dubious Continue Been Question Left Than May Productive
In order to be cruel we have to close our hearts to the suffering of the other. J. M. Coetzee
Suffering Other Our Cruel Close Hearts Order
In its conception the literature prize belongs to days when a writer could still be thought of as, by virtue of his or her occupation, a sage, someone with no institutional affiliations who could offer an authoritative word on our times as well as on our moral life. J. M. Coetzee
Life Word Thought Virtue Our Moral Someone Could Writer Days Institutional Conception Well Occupation Sage Still His Times Offer Prize Authoritative Literature Who Her Belongs
If it is indeed impossible - or at least very difficult - to inhabit the consciousness of an animal, then in writing about animals there is a temptation to project upon them feelings and thoughts that may belong only to our own human mind and heart. J. M. Coetzee
Thoughts Heart Animal Writing Impossible Mind Animals Feelings Own Difficult Our Project Indeed About Temptation Only Least Very May Human Them Then Inhabit Human Mind Consciousness Belong
I see no marks of Wordsworths style of writing or style of thinking in my own work, yet Wordsworth is a constant presence when I write about human beings and their relations to the natural world. J. M. Coetzee
Work Natural Writing World Style Own Thinking Relations Marks Constant See About My Own Write Human Human Beings Wordsworth Natural World Beings Presence
Elizabeth, Lady C, claims to be writing at the limits of language. Would it not be insulting to her if I were diligently to follow after her, explaining what she means but is not smart enough to say? J. M. Coetzee
Writing Smart Language Enough Diligently Say Claims Would Follow She Insulting Limits Were Lady After Explaining Means Her Elizabeth
As you see, I do not treat the creation of fiction, that to say the invention and development of fantasies, as a form of abstract thought. I don't wish to deny the uses of the intellect, but sometimes one has the intuition that the intellect by itself will lead one nowhere. J. M. Coetzee
You Treat Sometimes Will Thought Invention Wish Creation Say See Intuition Lead Abstract Development Intellect Itself Deny Fiction Form Fantasies Uses Nowhere
As for September 11, let us not too easily grant the Americans possession of that date on the calendar. Like May 1 or July 14 or December 25, September 11 may seem full of significance to some people, while to other people it is just another day. J. M. Coetzee
Day People Some People September Too Other Possession Easily Significance Some Seem Date Like Calendar Another Another Day July American May December Just While Us Full Grant Let Us
South African literature is a literature in bondage. It is a less-than-fully-human literature. It is exactly the kind of literature you would expect people to write from prison. J. M. Coetzee
You People Prison Kind Would Exactly Write South South African Expect African Literature Bondage

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