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J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quotes

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Famous J. M. Coetzee Quotes

“There is nothing more humanly beautiful than a woman's breasts. Nothing more humanly beautiful, nothing more humanly mysterious than why men should want to caress, over and over again, with paintbrush or chisel or hand, these oddly curved fatty sacs, and nothing more humanly endearing than our complicity (I mean the complicity of women) in their obsession.”

MenWantShouldMeanHandsBeautifulObsessionMysteriousBreastsCaressComplicityWhy MeEndearingChiselsFattyPaintbrush
Author:J. M. Coetzee
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“You think you know what is just and what is not. I understand. We all think we know." I had no doubt, myself, then, that at each moment each one of us, man, woman, child, perhaps even the poor old horse turning the mill-wheel, knew what was just: all creatures come into the world bringing with them the memory of justice. "But we live in a world of laws," I said to my poor prisoner, "a world of the second-best. There is nothing we can do about that. We are fallen creatures. All we can do is to uphold the laws, all of us, without allowing the memory of justice to fade.”

ThinkingKnowsMenWorldChildrenSaidMomentsLawCan DoMemoriesJusticePoorDoubtCreaturesHorseFallenWheelsNo DoubtAllowingPrisonerFadesMen WomenMillsYou Think You KnowSecond Best
Author:J. M. Coetzee
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“That was our first time together. Interesting, an interesting experience, but not earth-shaking. But then, I never expected it to be earth-shaking, not with him. What I was determined to avoid was emotional entanglement. A passing fling was one thing, an affair of the heart quite another. Of myself I was fairly sure. I was not about to lose my heart to a man about whom I knew next to nothing.”

MenFirstsHeartEarthTogetherNextLosesInterestingOne ThingEmotionalMy HeartFirst TimeAffairDeterminedExpectedPassingPassingsShakingFlingTime TogetherEntanglementAffairs Of The Heart
Author:J. M. Coetzee
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“He even knew the reason why: because enough men had gone off to war saying the time for gardening was when the war was over; whereas there must be men to stay behind and keep gardening alive, or at least the idea of gardening; because once that cord was broken, the earth would grow hard and forget her children. That was why.”

MenChildrenIdeasWarHardReasonEnoughEarthGrowsForgetBehindsGoneAliveBrokenGardenReason WhyGardeningBe A ManCords
Book:Life & Times of Michael K.: A Novel
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