Just as we bemoan the passing away of the Great Novel, a great novelist is likely to emerge, perhaps even from Denmark or Switzerland, to prove us wrong. J. M. Coetzee More Quotes by J. M. Coetzee More Quotes From J. M. Coetzee As during the time of kings it would have been naive to think that the king's firstborn son would be the fittest to rule, so in our time it is naive to think that the democratically elected ruler will be the fittest. The rule of succession is not a formula for identifying the best ruler, it is a formula for conferring legitimacy on someone or other and thus forestalling civil conflict. J. M. Coetzee kings son thinking If you were blind you would hardly have fallen in love in the first place. But now, do you truly wish to see the beloved in the cold clarity of the visual apparatus? It may be in your better interest to throw a veil over the gaze, so as to keep her alive in her archetypal, goddesslike form. J. M. Coetzee alive wish may His mouth opens. From inside him comes a slow stream, without breath, without interruption. It flows up through his body and out upon me; it passes through the cabin, through the wreck; washing the cliffs and shores of the island, it runs northward and southward to the ends of the earth. Soft and cold, dark and unending, it beats against my eyelids, against the skin of my face. J. M. Coetzee dark islands running 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 sage occupation literature 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 rights law animal 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 heart writing animal 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 dubious answers trying I tend to resist invitations to interpret my own fiction. J. M. Coetzee invitations my-own fiction In order to be cruel we have to close our hearts to the suffering of the other. J. M. Coetzee suffering heart order I said to myself, 'If you don't sit down to it today, when will you ever sit down to it?' J. M. Coetzee ifs said today Denunciations of the manipulativeness of advertisers can unfortunately all too easily be turned on their heads into denunciations of the gullibility of consumers. Both are forms of scapegoating, neither accomplishes anything. J. M. Coetzee advertising accomplish form All over the world, as governments retreat from their traditional duty to foster the common good and reconceive of themselves as mere managers of national economies, universities have been coming under pressure to turn themselves into training schools equipping young people with the skills required by a modern economy. J. M. Coetzee government skills school 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 july september-11 people Strictly speaking, my interest is not in legal rights for animals but in a change of heart towards animals. J. M. Coetzee rights heart animal 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 style writing thinking Yet what happened in fact? In the middle of the night John woke up and saw me sleeping beside him with no doubt a look of peace on my face, even of bliss, bliss is not unattainable in this world. He saw me—saw me as I was at that moment—took fright, hurriedly strapped the armour back over his heart, this time with chains and a double padlock, and stole out into the darkness. J. M. Coetzee sleep heart night Pleasure is hard to come by, but pain is everywhere these days, I must learn to subsist on it. J. M. Coetzee these-days pleasure pain Perhaps we invented the gods so that we could put the blame on them. They gave us permission to eat flesh. They gave us permission to play with unclean things. It's not our fault, it's theirs. We're just their children. J. M. Coetzee god play children 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 skulls philosophy two The devil is everywhere under the skin of things, searching for a way into the light. J. M. Coetzee devil skins light
