You think you know what is just and what is not. I understand. We all think we know." I had no doubt, myself, then, that at each moment each one of us, man, woman, child, perhaps even the poor old horse turning the mill-wheel, knew what was just: all creatures come into the world bringing with them the memory of justice. "But we live in a world of laws," I said to my poor prisoner, "a world of the second-best. There is nothing we can do about that. We are fallen creatures. All we can do is to uphold the laws, all of us, without allowing the memory of justice to fade.
I am not the we of anyone - J. M. Coetzee
I am not the we of anyone
- J. M. Coetzee
A book should be an axe to chop open the frozen sea inside us. - J. M. Coetzee
A book should be an axe to chop open the frozen sea inside us.
(I)f we are going to be kind, let it be out of simple generosity, not because we fear guilt or retribution. - J. M. Coetzee
(I)f we are going to be kind, let it be out of simple generosity, not because we fear guilt or retribution.
Truth is not spoken in anger. Truth is spoken, if it ever comes to be spoken, in love. The gaze of love is not deluded. It sees what is best in the b… - J. M. Coetzee
Truth is not spoken in anger. Truth is spoken, if it ever comes to be spoken, in love. The gaze of love is not deluded. It sees what is best in the b…
Our lies reveal as much about us as our truths - J. M. Coetzee
Our lies reveal as much about us as our truths
When all else fails, philosophize. - J. M. Coetzee
When all else fails, philosophize.
Let me say it openly: we are surrounded by an enterprise of degradation, cruelty, and killing which rivals anything the Third Reich was capable of, i… - J. M. Coetzee
Let me say it openly: we are surrounded by an enterprise of degradation, cruelty, and killing which rivals anything the Third Reich was capable of, i…
There seemed nothing to do but live. - J. M. Coetzee
There seemed nothing to do but live.
We must cultivate, all of us, a certain ignorance, a certain blindness, or society will not be tolerable. - J. M. Coetzee
We must cultivate, all of us, a certain ignorance, a certain blindness, or society will not be tolerable.
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