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Top 160 J. M. Coetzee Quotes (2026 Update)
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J. M. Coetzee Quote: “When death cuts all other links, there remains the name. Baptism: the union of a soul with a name, the name it will carry into eternity.”

151. “When death cuts all other links, there remains the name. Baptism: the union of a soul with a name, the name it will carry into eternity.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “Prose, in his experience, calls for many more words than poetry. There is no point in embarking on prose if one lacks confidence that one will be alive the next day to carry on with the task.”

152. “Prose, in his experience, calls for many more words than poetry. There is no point in embarking on prose if one lacks confidence that one will be alive the next day to carry on with the task.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “Empire as located its existence not in the smooth recurrent spinning time of the cycle of the seasons but in the jagged time of rise and fall, of beginning and end, of catastrophe.”

153. “Empire as located its existence not in the smooth recurrent spinning time of the cycle of the seasons but in the jagged time of rise and fall, of beginning and end, of catastrophe.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “Without desire how is it possible to make a story?”

154. “Without desire how is it possible to make a story?”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “Suicide, I had understood, is an act not of body against itself but of the will against the body.”

155. “Suicide, I had understood, is an act not of body against itself but of the will against the body.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “Do you think what happened here was an exam: if you come through, you get a diploma and safe conduct into the future, or a sign to paint on the door-lintel that will make the plague pass you by?”

156. “Do you think what happened here was an exam: if you come through, you get a diploma and safe conduct into the future, or a sign to paint on the door-lintel that will make the plague pass you by?”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “If he has a last thought, if there is time for a last thought, it will simply be, So this is what a last thought is like.”

157. “If he has a last thought, if there is time for a last thought, it will simply be, So this is what a last thought is like.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “The sun is setting, the sky is a tumult of oranges, reds and violets.”

158. “The sun is setting, the sky is a tumult of oranges, reds and violets.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “It was no longer a matter of growing a fat crop, only of growing enough for the seed not to die out. There will be another year, he consoled himself, another summer in which to try again.”

159. “It was no longer a matter of growing a fat crop, only of growing enough for the seed not to die out. There will be another year, he consoled himself, another summer in which to try again.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “But then, what are books for if not to change our lives?”

160. “But then, what are books for if not to change our lives?”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “I tend to resist invitations to interpret my own fiction.”

161. “I tend to resist invitations to interpret my own fiction.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “This is what it leads to! This is what it leads to if you let your attention wander for a moment!”

162. “This is what it leads to! This is what it leads to if you let your attention wander for a moment!”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “The humanities the core of the university. She may be an outsider, but if she were asked to name the core of the university today, its core discipline, she would say it was moneymaking. That is how it looks from Melbourne, Victoria; and she would not be surprised if the same were the case in Johannesburg, South Africa.”

163. “The humanities the core of the university. She may be an outsider, but if she were asked to name the core of the university today, its core discipline, she would say it was moneymaking. That is how it looks from Melbourne, Victoria; and she would not be surprised if the same were the case in Johannesburg, South Africa.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “I say that I represent this movement because my intellectual allegiances are clearly European, not African.”

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

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “I stood listening to the night breeze rustle the leaves, and watched the bats flicker against the last light, and felt the sweeping melancholy of those who pass their days in the midst of insupportable beauty in the knowledge that one day they will die.”

165. “I stood listening to the night breeze rustle the leaves, and watched the bats flicker against the last light, and felt the sweeping melancholy of those who pass their days in the midst of insupportable beauty in the knowledge that one day they will die.”

— J. M. Coetzee

166. “If I were pressed to give my brand of political thought a label, I would call it pessimistic anarchistic quietism, or anarchistic quietistic pessimism or pessimistic quietistic anarchism: anarchism because experience tells me that what is wrong with politics is power itself; quietism because I have my doubts about the will to set about changing the world, a will infected with the drive to power; and pessimism because I am sceptical that, in a fundamental way, things can be changed.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “I am now no more than a pile of blood, bone and meat that is unhappy.”

167. “I am now no more than a pile of blood, bone and meat that is unhappy.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “Technically he is old enough to be her father; but then, technically one can be a father at twelve.”

168. “Technically he is old enough to be her father; but then, technically one can be a father at twelve.”

— J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee Quote: “What if... what if that is the price one has to pay for staying on? Perhaps that is how they look at it: perhaps that is how I should look at it too. They see me as owing something. They see themselves as debt collectors, tax collectors. Why should I be allowed to live here without paying?”

169. “What if... what if that is the price one has to pay for staying on? Perhaps that is how they look at it: perhaps that is how I should look at it too. They see me as owing something. They see themselves as debt collectors, tax collectors. Why should I be allowed to live here without paying?”

— J. M. Coetzee

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