439 Quotes by South African authors

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South African voices speak in many tongues, isiZulu, Afrikaans, Sesotho, English, braiding earth-dry wit with tenderness and steel. Here, wisdom is communal, stitched with ubuntu, yet unafraid to prod power, remember hard histories, or laugh in the queue. Images of veld, city taxis, and sea-wind sit beside lullabies, courtrooms, and shebeens. Expect proverbs that walk, poems that drum, and quick turns of phrase that carry both salt and balm. These sayings favor belonging over bravado, patience over noise, and hope with its sleeves rolled up.

See the complete list of authors from South Africa

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said "Let us pray." We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land"

Desmond Tutu, Leader

Small: Desmond Tutu

"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights"

Desmond Tutu, Leader

Small: Desmond Tutu

"A desert is a place without expectation"

Nadine Gordimer, Novelist

"We have our own history, our own language, our own culture. But our destiny is also tied up with the destinies of other people - history has made us all South Africans"

Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Leader

Small: Mangosuthu Buthelezi

"If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together"

Desmond Tutu, Leader

Small: Desmond Tutu

"Age is getting to know all the ways the world turns, so that if you cannot turn the world the way you want, you can at least get out of the way so you won't get run over"

Miriam Makeba, Musician

"No good work is ever done while the heart is hot and anxious and fretted"

Olive Schreiner, Writer

"There is no such thing as part freedom"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"It always seems impossible until its done"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive"

Alan Paton, Novelist

"The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed"

Steven Biko, Activist

Small: Steven Biko

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality"

Desmond Tutu, Leader

Small: Desmond Tutu

"I no longer run barefoot"

Zola Budd, Athlete

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"Without forgiveness, there's no future"

Desmond Tutu, Leader

Small: Desmond Tutu

"Responsibility is what awaits outside the Eden of Creativity"

Nadine Gordimer, Novelist

"I will never regret not denouncing apartheid"

Zola Budd, Athlete

"To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one's responsibility as a free man"

Alan Paton, Novelist

"If there's a golf course in heaven, I hope it's like Augusta National. I just don't want an early tee time"

Gary Player, Athlete

"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, Author

"The most important of all rights is the right to life, and I cannot foresee a day when domesticated animals will be granted that right in law"

J. M. Coetzee, Author

"Take what you can from your dreams, make them as real as anything"

Dave Matthews, Musician

"One tries to be an observer as an actor and indeed as a director because the small things, the give-away things are what are really interesting to a performer"

Janet Suzman, Actress

"In addition, we were unable to meet openly to discuss the progress of the book, for we were both on the list of persons banned from communicating with other banned persons"

Ruth First, Activist

"As there is oppression of the majority such oppression will be fought with increasing hatred"

Bram Fischer, Lawyer

"In my country we go to prison first and then become President"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Small: Nelson Mandela

"What is black empowerment when it seems to benefit not the vast majority but an elite that tends to be recycled?"

Desmond Tutu, Leader

Small: Desmond Tutu

"We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low"

Desmond Tutu, Leader

Small: Desmond Tutu

"Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world"

Desmond Tutu, Leader

Small: Desmond Tutu

"Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity"

Desmond Tutu, Leader

Small: Desmond Tutu

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