J. M. Coetzee Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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I'd love to do a movie where the monster is human, where the issue is not otherworldly, or horror or science fiction.
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Psychologically, it's always more pleasurable to blame others for our problems than it is to acknowledge our own responsibility.
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Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.
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Some of the regrets I've had about my own career are things I have not done that I should have done. More than some of the things that I've done.
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Writers of fiction, when they begin, are more likely to try the short form.
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I definitely feel more comfortable in my own skin since turning 40.
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Each is responsible for his own actions.
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Consider well this fact: As long as the German people does not arise and use force directed by its own will, the assassination of the people will continue.
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What I hate in fiction is when the author knows better than the characters what they should do.
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I have my own studio down in Miami.
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I am the commander in chief of the United States armed forces, and Iraq is gonna have to ultimately provide for its own security.
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Peace is its own reward.
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The perceptions of middle age have their own luminosity.
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Writers of historical fiction are not under the same obligation as historians to find evidence for the statements they make. For us it is sufficient if what we say can't be disproved or shown to be false.
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Every writer uses his own way to motivate oneself.
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I write for somebody who has my own limitations. My reader has a certain difficulty with concentrating, which in my case comes from being a film viewer.
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A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.
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The only living works are those which have drained much of the author's own life into them.
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You can never meet everyone's expectations. It's hard enough to meet your own.
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Unless your aim is to deceive, there's not a meaningful distinction between memoir and fiction. They're marketing categories.
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Spontaneity, the hallmark of childhood, is well worth cultivating to counteract the rigidity that may otherwise set in as we grow older.
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Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.
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I tend to resist invitations to interpret my own fiction.
