Why? Because a woman's beauty does not belong to her alone. It is part of the bounty she brings into the world. She has a duty to share it. - J. M. Coetzee

They prefer it that we live because we look too terrible when we get sick and die

My case rests on the rights of desire,’ he says. ‘On the god who makes even the small birds quiver.’

Because Costello is his mother’s maiden name, and because he has never seen any reason to broadcast his connection with her, it was not known at the time of the invitation that Elizabeth Costello, the Australian writer, had a family connection in the Appleton community. He would have preferred that state of affairs to continue.”