Authors:
  1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. J
  4. J. M. Coetzee
  5. Children

J. M. Coetzee Quotes about Children

All J. M. Coetzee Quotes Children quotes Consciousness Creation Desire Doubt Earth Feelings Giving Heart Imagination Lying Philosophy Skins Soul Writing
Perhaps we invented the gods so that we could put the blame on them. They gave us permission to eat flesh. They gave us permission to play with unclean things. It's not our fault, it's theirs. We're just their children.

Perhaps we invented the gods so that we could put the blame on them. They gave us permission to eat flesh. They gave us permission to play with unclean things. It's not our fault, it's theirs. We're just their children.

J. M. Coetzee
God, Children, Play
J. M. Coetzee (2016). “The Lives of Animals: The Lives of Animals [Princeton Classics]”, p.41, Princeton University Press

Children all over the world consort quite naturally with animals. They don't see any dividing line. That is something they have to be taught, just as they have to be taught it is all right to kill and eat them.

J. M. Coetzee
Children, Animal, Pet
J. M. Coetzee (2016). “The Lives of Animals: The Lives of Animals [Princeton Classics]”, p.61, Princeton University Press

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.

J. M. Coetzee
Horse, Children, Memories

He even knew the reason why: because enough men had gone off to war saying the time for gardening was when the war was over; whereas there must be men to stay behind and keep gardening alive, or at least the idea of gardening; because once that cord was broken, the earth would grow hard and forget her children. That was why.

J. M. Coetzee
Children, War, Men
J. M. Coetzee (1983). “Life & Times of Michael K.: A Novel”, Penguin (Non-Classics)

You May Also Like: