---
title: "1 Coetzee Quotes By Marlene van Niekerk"
description: "1 Coetzee quotes by Marlene van Niekerk. Plus more from Marlene van Niekerk and more Coetzee sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/marlene-van-niekerk-34386_able_read-non-fiction-history-biology-entomol_351896.jpg"
---

> [Read non-fiction. History, biology, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology. Get a bodyguard and do fieldwork. Find your inner fish. Don't publish too soon. Not before you have read Thomas Mann in any case. Learn by copying, sentence by sentence some of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/read-non-fiction-history-biology-entomology-mineralogy-paleontology/)

[Marlene van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/marlene-van-niekerk-34386_able_read-non-fiction-history-biology-entomol_351896.jpg)

## More by Marlene van Niekerk

> [Read non-fiction. History, biology, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology. Get a bodyguard and do fieldwork. Find your inner fish. Don't publish too soon. Not before you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/read-non-fiction-history-biology-entomology-mineralogy-paleontology/)

[Marlene van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [“Well, I am something, Ma, you hissed, I am not nothing, I am somebody and I know what I want from life and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/well-i-am-something-ma-you-hissed-i-am-not-nothing-i-am-somebody-and/)

[Marlene Van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [“...a butterfly is like the soul of a person, it dries out in captivity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/a-butterfly-is-like-the-soul-of-a-person-it-dries-out-in-captivity/)

[Marlene Van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [“First smile!! An unseasonal little shower of rain fell here, and a lot of butterflies drowned, so we put them in the sun and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/first-smile-an-unseasonal-little-shower-of-rain-fell-here-and-a-lot/)

[Marlene Van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [Marriage is holy and it's private.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/marriage-is-holy-and-it-s-private/)

[Marlene van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [“And I will close my eyes and prepare myself so that they can unscrew my head and allow the map to slip into my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/and-i-will-close-my-eyes-and-prepare-myself-so-that-they-can-unscrew/)

[Marlene Van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [“After all the years, after everything that you'd had to endure, after everything that you'd undertaken, however good or bad, long after you'd given…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/after-all-the-years-after-everything-that-you-d-had-to-endure-after/)

[Marlene Van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [“In a state of pseudo-death you restore your substance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/in-a-state-of-pseudo-death-you-restore-your-substance/)

[Marlene Van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [Nobody can be so beautiful from the outside and so hollow from inside. Not even in a third-rate novel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/nobody-can-be-so-beautiful-from-the-outside-and-so-hollow-from-inside/)

[Marlene van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [“Nature is subtle and complex.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/nature-is-subtle-and-complex/)

[Marlene Van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [We all have to do things in this life that we don't like.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/we-all-have-to-do-things-in-this-life-that-we-don-t-like/)

[Marlene van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [“..did i think i was god that i had to lie and take it did i think then i was a mountain or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/did-i-think-i-was-god-that-i-had-to-lie-and-take-it-did-i-think-then/)

[Marlene Van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

> [“Everything is important. To the smallest insect, even the mouldering tree, the deepest stone in the drift.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/everything-is-important-to-the-smallest-insect-even-the-mouldering/)

[Marlene Van Niekerk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-van-niekerk/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coetzee/marlene-van-niekerk/#itemlist",
            "name": "1 Coetzee Quotes By Marlene van Niekerk",
            "numberOfItems": 1,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Read non-fiction. History, biology, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology. Get a bodyguard and do fieldwork. Find your inner fish. Don't publish too soon. Not before you have read Thomas Mann in any case. Learn by copying, sentence by sentence some of the masters. Copy Coetzee's or Sebald's sentences and see what happens to your story. Consider creative non-fiction if you want to stay in South Africa. It might be the way to go. Never neglect back and hamstring exercises, otherwise you won't be able to write your novel. One needs one's buttocks to think.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Marlene van Niekerk"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-van-niekerk/read-non-fiction-history-biology-entomology-mineralogy-paleontology/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/marlene-van-niekerk-34386_able_read-non-fiction-history-biology-entomol_351896.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/marlene-van-niekerk-34386_able_read-non-fiction-history-biology-entomol_351896.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/marlene-van-niekerk-34386_able_read-non-fiction-history-biology-entomol_351896.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Read non-fiction. History, biology, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology. Get a bodyguard and do fieldwork…” — Marlene van Niekerk",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coetzee/marlene-van-niekerk/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coetzee/marlene-van-niekerk/",
            "name": "Coetzee Quotes by Marlene van Niekerk",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coetzee/marlene-van-niekerk/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/marlene-van-niekerk-34386_able_read-non-fiction-history-biology-entomol_351896.jpg"
            },
            "description": "1 Coetzee quotes by Marlene van Niekerk. Plus more from Marlene van Niekerk and more Coetzee sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coetzee/marlene-van-niekerk/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coetzee/marlene-van-niekerk/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Coetzee",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coetzee/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Marlene van Niekerk",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coetzee/marlene-van-niekerk/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
