462 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.

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"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

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

Desmond Tutu

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

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

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

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

"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

Mangosuthu Buthelezi

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

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

"I found them uncomfortable, and after that I decided to continue running barefoot because I found it more comfortable. I felt more in touch with what was happening - I could actually feel the track"

Zola Budd, Athlete

"Coming from a farming background, I saw nothing out of the ordinary in running barefoot, although it seemed to startle the rest of the athletics world. I have always enjoyed going barefoot and when I was growing up I seldom wore shoes, even when I went into town"

Zola Budd, Athlete

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

Olive Schreiner, Writer

"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

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

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

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

Desmond Tutu, Leader

Desmond Tutu

"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

Desmond Tutu

"I no longer run barefoot"

Zola Budd, Athlete

"A desert is a place without expectation"

Nadine Gordimer, Novelist

"There is no such thing as part freedom"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

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

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

"It always seems impossible until it's done"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

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

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

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

Desmond Tutu

"They took away time, and they gave us the clock"

Abdullah Ibrahim, Musician

"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

Nelson Mandela

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

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

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

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

"Looking back... it's hard to understand what all the fuss was about as things changed in just a few years. When you look at all the things that have happened in the world, it seems very small"

Zola Budd, Athlete

"Many of our own people here in this country do not ask about computers, telephones and television sets. They ask - when will we get a road to our village?"

Thabo Mbeki, Statesman

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

Alan Paton, Novelist

"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

Nelson Mandela

"If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don't ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

"I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

"Communists have always played an active role in the fight by colonial countries for their freedom, because the short-term objects of Communism would always correspond with the long-term objects of freedom movements"

Nelson Mandela, Statesman

Nelson Mandela

"I will never regret not denouncing apartheid"

Zola Budd, Athlete

"I have strong views about South African politics and I still don't feel I need to make public statements"

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

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

Steven Biko, Activist

Steven Biko

"The basic tenet of black consciousness is that the black man must reject all value systems that seek to make him a foreigner in the country of his birth and reduce his basic human dignity"

Steven Biko, Activist

Steven Biko

"This country is armed to the teeth, and none of these African states could begin to attack South Africa"

Helen Suzman, Politician

"The glaring injustice is there for all who are not blinded by prejudice to see"

Bram Fischer, Lawyer

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

Bram Fischer, Lawyer

"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

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