"My response, a dubious and hesitant one, is that it has been and may continue to be, in the time that is left to me, more productive to live out the question than to try to answer it in abstract terms"
- J. M. Coetzee
About this Quote
This quote by J. M. Coetzee recommends that it is more helpful to live life and experience the world than to attempt to respond to life's concerns in a theoretical way. Coetzee's reaction to the concern of how to live life is a reluctant one, implying that he is uncertain of the answer. He believes that it is more productive to live out the question than to attempt to address it in abstract terms. This suggests that Coetzee believes that life is finest experienced and comprehended through living it, instead of through theoretical analysis. He believes that the time left to him is finest spent living out the concern, instead of attempting to address it. This quote suggests that life is best comprehended through experience, instead of through theoretical analysis.
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