top of page
"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. I dont wish to deny the uses of the intellect, but sometimes one has the intuition that the intellect by itself will lead one nowhere."
Standard
Customized
Exlpore more Thought quotes

"Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame."

"All of my misfortunes come from having thought too well of my fellows."

"Before making a snap judgment, ask yourself if it really is something that has hurt you or simply just made you angry at yourself for allowing it to happen. It's amazing what 'sleeping on it' can do. A new day sees a new beginning."

"I'm also involved in the rights of the disabled and do some fundraising for that and I thought it would have been a big boost for the campaign but it couldn't be worked out."

"There's nothing I've done which I'm ashamed of or I thought was actually bad."
Explore more quotes by J. M. Coetzee

"I say that I represent this movement because my intellectual allegiances are clearly European, not African."

"Elizabeth, Lady C, claims to be writing at the limits of language. Would it not be insulting to her if I were diligently to follow after her, explaining what she means but is not smart enough to say?"

"My response, a dubious and hesitant one, is that it has been and may continue to be, in the time that is left to me, more productive to live out the question than to try to answer it in abstract terms."

"In its conception the literature prize belongs to days when a writer could still be thought of as, by virtue of his or her occupation, a sage, someone with no institutional affiliations who could offer an authoritative word on our times as well as on our moral life."

"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."

"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."

"If it is indeed impossible - or at least very difficult - to inhabit the consciousness of an animal, then in writing about animals there is a temptation to project upon them feelings and thoughts that may belong only to our own human mind and heart."

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

"If there were a better, clearer, shorter way of saying what the fiction says, then why not scrap the fiction?"
bottom of page