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Quote by J. M. Coetzee

“The barbarians come out at night.”

Quote by J. M. Coetzee

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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“Artists no longer starve in garrets. Some people may think this is not wholly a good thing, that being an artist has become too comfortable, at least in the West. I'm not sure I agree. It's a mark of civilization to encourage the arts and the life of the mind.”

People Thinking Mind May Art Artist Civilization Comfortable Mark Agree Good Things West Not Sure Being An Artist

Author:J. M. Coetzee

“Can desire grow out of admiration, or are the two quite distinct species? What would it be like to lie side by side, naked, breast to breast, with a woman one principally admires?”

Two Lying Desire Grows Sides Species Naked Admire Breasts Admiration

Book:Slow Man

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“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.”

Ifs Want Doe Political Democracy Subjects Citizens Office Argument Vote Fellows Democratic Candidates Scrutiny Reservations

Author:J. M. Coetzee

“Unbelief is a belief.”

Belief Unbelief

Author:J. M. Coetzee

“If I, this mortal shell, am going to die, let me at least live on through my creations.”

Ifs Dies Creation Let Me Mortals Shells

Author:J. M. Coetzee

“Long visits don't make for good friends.”

Long Good Friend

Book:Disgrâce

Source: Disgrâce

“Deprived of human intercourse, I inevitably overvalue the imagination and expect it to make the mundane glow with an aura of self-transcendence. Yet why these glorious sunsets, I ask myself, if nature does not speak to us with tongues of fire.”

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Book:In the Heart of the Country: A Novel

Source: In the Heart of the Country: A Novel

“The modern state appeals to morality, to religion, and to natural law as the ideological foundation of its existence. At the same time it is prepared to infringe any or all of these in the interest of self-preservation.”

Self States Law Interest Natural Existence Modern Morality Foundation Prepared Appeals Preservation Ideological Natural Law Self Preservation

Book:Diary of a Bad Year

Source: Diary of a Bad Year

“Just as we bemoan the passing away of the Great Novel, a great novelist is likely to emerge, perhaps even from Denmark or Switzerland, to prove us wrong.”

Novel Prove Passing Passings Novelists Passing Away Switzerland Denmark Great Novels

Author:J. M. Coetzee

“What is miraculous about the past is that we have succeeded--God knows how--in making thousands and millions of individual human beings, lock well enought into one another to give us what looks like a common past, a shared story.”

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Book:Elizabeth Costello

Source: Elizabeth Costello