You can't change a regime on the basis of compassion. There's got to be something harder. Nadine Gordimer More Quotes by Nadine Gordimer More Quotes From Nadine Gordimer The truth isn't always beauty, but the hunger for it is. Nadine Gordimer truth beauty inspirational A truly living human being cannot remain neutral. Nadine Gordimer truly-living human-beings humans Newspapers are horror happening to other people. Nadine Gordimer horror newspapers people My answer is: Recognize yourself in others Nadine Gordimer answers I have failed at many things, but I have never been afraid. Nadine Gordimer In a democracy - even if it is a so-called democracy like our white-?litist one - the greatest veneration one can show the rule of law is to keep a watch on it, and to reserve the right to judge unjust laws and the subversion of the function of the law by the power of the state. That vigilance is the most important proof of respect for the law. Nadine Gordimer judging law white Writing is making sense of life. Nadine Gordimer make-sense writing The tension between standing apart, and being fully involved; that is what makes a writer. Nadine Gordimer standing-apart tension standing What is the purpose of writing? For me personally, it is really to explain the mystery of life, and the mystery of life includes, of course, the personal, the political, the forces that make us what we are while there's another force from inside battling to make us something else. Nadine Gordimer political purpose writing Art defies defeat by its very existence, representing the celebration of life, in spite of all attempts to degrade and destroy it. Nadine Gordimer celebration defeat art Literature is one of the few areas left where black and white feel some identity of purpose; we all struggle under censorship. Nadine Gordimer black-and-white identity struggle Time is change; we measure its passage by how much things alter. Nadine Gordimer passages aging Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area. Nadine Gordimer whole-life made writing Nothing fades so quickly as what is unchanged. Nadine Gordimer fades In a certain sense a writer is 'selected' by his subject - his subject being the consciousness of his own era. Nadine Gordimer eras certain consciousness In a country like South Africa, writers have nuisance value, because those of us who have become known overseas have certainly helped to inform people about what life is like there. Nadine Gordimer life-is-like country people The primacy of the word, basis of the human psyche, that has in our age been used for mind-bending persuasion and brain-washing pulp, disgraced by Gobbles and debased by advertising copy, remains a force for freedom that flies out between all bars. Nadine Gordimer freedom-of-speech mind brain Music has no limits of a life-span. Nadine Gordimer life-span limits All worthwhile writing... comes from an individual vision, privately pursued. Nadine Gordimer individual vision writing Peace. The upland serenity of high altitude, the openness of grassland without indigenous bush or trees; the greening, yellowing or silver-browning that prevailed, according to season. Nadine Gordimer serenity tree peace
