Quotes from book
Disgrace

Name: Disgrace
Author: J.M. Coetzee

Disgrace is a novel by J. M. Coetzee, published in 1999. It won the Booker Prize. The writer was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature four years after its publication.

“You are going to end up as one of those sad old men who poke around in rubbish bins.”

“I’m going to end up in a hole in the ground… And so are you. So are we all.”

J.M. Coetzee book Disgrace

Source: Disgrace

“His own opinion, which he does not air, is that the origin 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 book Disgrace

Source: Disgrace (1999), p. 3-4
Context: 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.

“(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 book Disgrace

Source: Disgrace

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

J.M. Coetzee book Disgrace

Source: Disgrace

“Was it serious? I don't know. It certainly had serious consequences.”

J.M. Coetzee book Disgrace

Source: Disgrace

“When all else fails, philosophize.”

J.M. Coetzee book Disgrace

Source: Disgrace