All J M Coetzee Quotes
- As you see, I do not treat the creation of fiction, that to say the invention and development of fantasies,as a form of abstract thought.… Abstract
- They have no consciousness therefore. Therefore what? Therefore we are free to use them for our own ends? Therefore we are free to kill them?… All
- 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… Ago
- Anyone who says that life matters less to an animal than it does to us has not held in his hands an animal fighting for… Agree
- To me, a philosopher who says that the distinction between human and nonhuman depends on whether you have a white or a black skin, and… Alike
- Children all over the world consort quite naturally with animals. They don't see any dividing line. That is something they have to be taught, just… All
- ...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… Able
- I don't think we are ready to die, any of us, not without being escorted. Any
- 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,… Benedict
- 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… Averting
- 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… Always Seemed
- The mode of consciousness of nonhuman species is quite different from human consciousness. Consciousness
- The idea of writer as sage is pretty much dead today. I would certainly feel very uncomfortable in the role. Certainly Feel
- 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… All
- 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… Case
- 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… Deepest
- I said to myself, 'If you don't sit down to it today, when will you ever sit down to it?' Down
- 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… All
- 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… All
- From one seed a whole handful: that was what it meant to say the bounty of the earth. Bounty