# Quote — J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace

> Too many people, too few things. What there is must go into circulation, so that everyone can have a chance to be happy for a day. That is the theory; hold to the theory and to the comforts of theory. Not human evil, just a vast circulatory system, to whose workings pity and terror are irrelevant. That is how one must see life in this country: in its schematic aspect. Otherwise one could go mad. Cars, shoes; women too. There must be some niche in the system for women and what happens to them.

- Author: [J. M. Coetzee](https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee.md)
- Book: [Disgrace](https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/disgrace.md)
- Page: 98
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Coetzee#Disgrace_(1999)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/disgrace/too-many-people

## More from this book

> Because he takes pleasure in her, because his pleasure is unfailing, an affection has grown up in him for her. To some degree, he believes, this affection is reciprocated. Affection may not be love, but it is at least its cousin.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/disgrace/because-he-takes.md)

> Talking to Petrus is like punching a bag of sand.
>
> 'Are you giving him up?'
>
> 'Yes, I am giving him up.'

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/disgrace/talking-to-petrus.md)

> "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."

p. 16 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/disgrace/why-because-a-womans.md)