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Quote by J. M. Coetzee

“I don't think we are ready to die, any of us, not without being escorted.”

Quote by J. M. Coetzee

Work

Disgrâce is a thought-provoking novel set in a rural South African village. The story delves into the consequences of personal and communal disgrace, examining the impact on individual lives and the fabric of the community. The narrative is rich with cultural nuances and serves as a commentary on the complexities of human relationships and societal expectations. more

Author

J.M. Coetzee is a South African-born Australian novelist known for his profound psychological insights and critical exploration of South Africa's apartheid history. His works have won numerous literary awards, including the Nobel Prize in Literature. more

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“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.”

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Book:Disgrâce

Source: Disgrâce

“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.”

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Book:Age of Iron

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“That has always seemed to me one of the stranger aspects of literary fame: you prove your competence as a writer and an inventor of stories, and then people clamour for you to make speeches and tell them what you think about the world.”

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“The mode of consciousness of nonhuman species is quite different from human consciousness.”

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“The idea of writer as sage is pretty much dead today. I would certainly feel very uncomfortable in the role.”

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“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.”

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“There are works of literature whose influence is strong but indirect because it is mediated through the whole of the culture rather than immediately through imitation. Wordsworth is the case that comes to mind.”

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Author:J. M. Coetzee

“The writers who have the deepest influence on one are those one reads in ones more impressionable, early life, and often it is the more youthful works of those writers that leave the deepest imprint.”

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“I said to myself, 'If you don't sit down to it today, when will you ever sit down to it?'”

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“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.”