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Quotes by South-african Authors


"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."


89


"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."


82


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


79


"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires."


58


"Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will."


55


"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."


54


"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."


54


"The biggest problem in South Africa is that we have a disrupted timeline. Historically, politically, spiritually, economically, in people's minds, in people's heads."


50


"Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being."


45


"That surely must be a concern to anyone who decides this drug must be given to stop transmissions, again from mother to child, which is extremely costly and must be taken into account."


39


"The poor prey on one another because their lives offer no hope and communicate the tragic message to these human beings that they have no possibility to attain a decent standard of living."


38


"If you wrote a novel in South Africa which didn't concern the central issues, it wouldn't be worth publishing."


36


"A friend is always good to have, but a lover's kiss is better than angels raining down on me."


34


"It's a really unfair world because life is, where I am; all day long we listen to American music. So I don't see why the radios in the U.S. cannot even put aside one hour a day just to play music that is not American."


33


"It is very much the theme of our President, President Thabo Mbeki, whose passion is for Africa to work together, and for Africans to get up and do things for us. We are trying as women to do things for ourselves."


32


"I like what I do, and I'm very fortunate now to be in a very nice place. Which is that I don't have to work anymore. So the work that I do now is purely because I really want to."


32

"They are responsible for starting this relationship and wanting to help Africa. The United States is very well suited for this as they are a country that has the capacity, they have better access to technology and they are a successful country."


29


"We create success or failure on the course primarily by our thoughts."


29


"I can't believe that we would lie in our graves wondering if we had spent our living days well. I can't believe that we would lie in our graves dreaming of things that we might have been."


27

"Well we took it apart scene by scene. We examined every sentence, every full stop, every comma. He has a most wonderful eye for detail, Roman, and you know, he's a very good artist."


27

"My mother was very agnostic. She would never set foot in the synagogue, she couldn't be doing with it."


27


"Each investigation team has a lawyer attached to it and there was a lawyer attached to me and my assistant."


25

"Sometimes I have to compromise my views, but I never compromise on issues like the death penalty and the arm trade laws, despite what the readers or letters may say."


23


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


23

"Now that we have a democracy and you can go back and the airport air is not laden with evil any more, you can actually breathe oxygen when you land in Johannesburg."


22


"I turned pro and won Rookie of the Year on the South African Tour and then it took me two tries at the qualifying school on the European Tour and to get my card and the rest is history."


22


"Well, because lots of questions had been raised about the toxicity of the drug, which is very serious."


22

"Most of my career has been spent with the RSC doing Shakespeare, and the thing you learn from Shakespeare is that his historical plays don't bear anything other than a basic resemblance to history."


21


"I mean, I'm new but I've always been very interested in film making process and I've been lucky enough to work with film makers in my past that have been very encouraging to let me hang around. I get so emotionally vested - that the producer part of me was natural."


21

"We were able to flood the zone immediately."


21


"Many have changed so much that they have lost the magic of the dream that carried them on their own bootstraps."


19


"Joseph and his mother come from the black kings who were before the white man."


19


"Countries and states which have capital punishment have a much higher rate of murder and crime than countries that do not, so that makes sense to me, and the moral question - I struggle with it morally."


19


"I think today that it is essential that the Rwandan tribunal continues to prosecute efficiently. And if the U.N. fails to do that, it is sending entirely the wrong message to people who are in the position to complete these atrocities again."


19

"Time is change; we measure its passing by how much things alter."


18

"We were having a trial game against Leeds, and Jack Charlton was the boss of Middlesbrough at the time."


18


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


17


"It's an important thing to have a relationship with the director, and have it be a positive one."


17


"Power! Did you ever hear of men being asked whether other souls should have power or not? It is born in them."


16


"I have been working a lot, and I like it. And you know, it's hard for me not to. I guess I've been working a lot because I get to play with brilliant people."


16

"As a gay Jewish white South African, I belong to quite a lot of minority groups. You constantly have to question who you are, what you are and whether you have the courage to be who you are."


16

"No, I can't write treatments, I think there's a danger with treatments. That you... you write out your first excitement and enthusiasm in a prose treatment."


16


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


16

"I still find that a kind of stricture of the heart happens when I see any form of bigoted or racist behaviour. I get an actual pain in my heart."


14
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