Machiavelli says that if as a ruler you accept that your every action must pass moral scrutiny, you will without fail be defeated by an opponent who submits to no such moral test. To hold on to power, you have not only to master the crafts of deception and treachery but to be prepared to use them where necessary.
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.
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…
(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.
When all else fails, philosophize. - J. M. Coetzee
When all else fails, philosophize.
Our lies reveal as much about us as our truths - J. M. Coetzee
Our lies reveal as much about us as our truths
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…
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.
There seemed nothing to do but live. - J. M. Coetzee
There seemed nothing to do but live.
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