We are not by nature cruel. J. M. Coetzee More Quotes by J. M. Coetzee More Quotes From J. M. Coetzee My existence from day to day has become a matter of averting my eyes, of cringing. Death is the only truth left. Death is what I cannot bear to think. At every moment when I am thinking of something else, I am not thinking death, am not thinking the truth. J. M. Coetzee eye matter thinking The idea of writer as sage is pretty much dead today. I would certainly feel very uncomfortable in the role. J. M. Coetzee roles beauty ideas I am corrupted to the bone with the beauty of this forsaken world. J. M. Coetzee bones beauty world It seemed to me that all things were possible on the island, all tyrannies and cruelties, though in small; and if, in despite of what was possible, we lived at peace with another, surely this was proof that certain laws unknown to us held sway, or else that we had been following the promptings of our hearts all this time, and our hearts had not betrayed us. J. M. Coetzee islands heart sympathy All autobiography is storytelling; all writing is autobiography. J. M. Coetzee autobiography storytelling writing 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 nothing back writing book 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 busy love life death Everyone seems to see bleakness and despair in my books. I don't read them that way. I see myself as writing comic books, books about ordinary people trying to live ordinary, dull, happy lives while the world is falling to pieces around them. J. M. Coetzee myself happy people world 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 lady smart language limits In becoming a citizen, one undertakes certain duties and responsibilities. One of the more intangible of those duties and responsibilities is no matter what one's birth and background, to accept the historical past of the new country as one's own. J. M. Coetzee new matter country past I read a great deal as a child. A lot of children go through a phase of reading in a literally voracious way. It is their primary imaginative activity. Maybe that's an experience which is not so common any more with the presence of television in every home. J. M. Coetzee great experience home children
