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J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quotes

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Famous J. M. Coetzee Quotes

“If you have reservations about the system and want to change it, the democratic argument goes, do so within the system: put yourself forward as a candidate for political office, subject yourself to the scrutiny and the vote of fellow citizens. Democracy does not allow for politics outside the democratic system. In this sense, democracy is totalitarian.”

IfsWantDoePoliticalDemocracySubjectsCitizensOfficeArgumentVoteFellowsDemocraticCandidatesScrutinyReservations
Author:J. M. Coetzee
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“Machiavelli says that if as a ruler you accept that your every action must pass moral scrutiny, you will without fail be defeated by an opponent who submits to no such moral test. To hold on to power, you have not only to master the crafts of deception and treachery but to be prepared to use them where necessary.”

IfsUseActionAcceptingMoralFailingMastersTestsPreparedCraftsDeceptionOpponentsRulersSubmitDefeatedBe PreparedScrutinyTreachery
Author:J. M. Coetzee
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“Some years ago I wrote a book called The House on Eccles Street. To write this book I had to think my way into the existence of Marion Bloom...Marion Bloom was a figment of James Joyce's imagination. If I can think my way into the existence of a being who has never existed, then I can think my way into the existence of a bat or a chimpanzee or an oyster, any being with whom I share the substrate of life.”

IfsThinkingWayWritingYearsI CanBookHouseImaginationAnimalExistenceShareStreetsEthicsYears AgoMy WayPetBatsOystersChimpanzeesJoyceAnimal EthicsFigments
Author:J. M. Coetzee
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“...the program of scientific experimentation that leads you to conclude that animals are imbeciles is profoundly anthropocentric. It values being able to find your way out of a sterile maze, ignoring the fact that if the researcher who designed the maze were to be parachuted into the jungles of Borneo, he or she would be dead of starvation in a week...If I as a human being were told that the standards by which animals are being measured in these experiments are human standards, I would be insulted.”

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Book:Elizabeth Costello
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“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.”

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Author:J. M. Coetzee
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