“[This is not the scene I dreamed of.] Like much else nowadays I leave it feeling stupid, like a man who lost his way long ago but presses on along a road that may lead nowhere. ”

—J. M. Coetzee, from Waiting for the Barbarians

“I have chosen at every moment my own destiny, which is to die here in the petrified garden, behind locked gates, near my father's bones, in a space echoing with hymns I could have written but did not because (I thought) it was too easy. ”

—J. M. Coetzee, from In the Heart of the Country

“[Drowning, we write out of our separate fates. Save us.] Your obedient servant, Elizabeth C”

—J. M. Coetzee, from Elizabeth Costello

“If we are going to be kind, let it be out of simple generosity, not because we feel guilty or fear retribution.”

—

J. M. Coetzee | Disgrace

“The story of Eurydice has been misunderstood. What the story is about is the solitariness of death. Eurydice is in hell in her grave-clothes. She believes that Orpheus loves her enough to come and save her. And indeed Orpheus comes. But in the end the love Orpheus feels is not strong enough. Orpheus leaves his beloved behind and returns to his own life.”

—J. M. Coetzee from The Diary of a Bad Year

“Sometimes when he is among the sheep- when they have been rounded up to be dipped, and are penned tight and cannot get away—he wants to whisper to them, warn them of what lies in store. But then in their yellow eye he catches a glimpse of something that silences him: a resignation, a foreknowledge not only of what happens to sheep at the hands of Ros behind the shed, but of what awaits the at the end of the long, thirsty ride to Cape Town on the transport lorry. They know it all, down to the finest detail, and yet they submit. They have calculated the price and are prepared to pay it— the price of being on earth, the price of being alive.”

—J. M. Coetzee - Boyhood (1999)

“Perché ci è concessa la vecchiaia, fratelli? Per ritornare piccoli, così piccoli da passare nella cruna di un ago.”

—J. M. Coetzee, Il maestro di Pietroburgo

“It gets harder all the time, Bev Shaw once said. Harder, yet easier too. One gets used to things getting harder; one ceases to be surprised that what used to be as hard as hard can be grows harder yet.”

—

J. M. Coetzee | Disgrace

“Although he devoted hours of each day to his new discipline, he finds its first premise, as enunciated in the Communications 101 handbook, preposterous: 'Human society has created language in order that we may communicate our thoughts, feelings, and intentions to each other.' His own opinion, which he does not air, is that the origins of speech lie in song, and the origins of song in the need to fill out with sound the overlarge and rather empty human soul.”

—
J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace,1999

Thinking About Disgrace

I loved the lyrical yet sparse quality of this novel. Coetzee has this really wonderful grasp on melody and music, as shown but through the content as well as the pacing of the story. The juxtaposition of Byron with Lurie’s life is absolutely brilliant, how they complement each other. It’s very cinematic, the way the music works with the violence of the setting and the actions. I have been thinking a lot about music in writing, i.e. Egan and Murakami as well, and how I can apply this to my life, my way of reading things, and my own writing projects.

“Because a women's beauty does not belong to her alone. It is a part of the bounty she brings into the world. She has a duty to share it.”

—Disgrace - J. M. Coetzee 
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