Best South Africa Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 10

“Do you know what the largest single cause of death in South Africa is? The largest single cause of death is what in the medical statistics is called external causes and that is violence in the society. For instance I've seen figures that say that if you take the male age cohort from16 to 45 years, 54% of the people who die in that age cohort die from external causes.”

People Ifs Knows Years Age Dies Causes Violence Figures South Males Medical Instance Statistics Do You Know South Africa

Author:Thabo Mbeki

“I've travelled extensively in the last 16 years - to slums in Bangladesh, to townships in South Africa, to all kinds of places in India, etc. When I would go and talk to villagers about something like vaccines, if I stayed long enough, the women would bring the conversation around and say: "What about this family planning tool? We can't keep having the number of children we're having."”

Ifs Years Kind Children Long Enough Lasts Numbers Conversation Tools India South Planning All Kinds Etc South Africa Vaccines Slums Bangladesh Family Planning

Author:Melinda Gates

“In a country like South Africa, writers have nuisance value, because those of us who have become known overseas have certainly helped to inform people about what life is like there.”

People Country Life Is Values Known South South Africa Life Is Like Nuisance

Author:Nadine Gordimer

“I decided that I wanted nothing to do with South African government television while any of my fellow writers were banned and couldn't speak publicly.”

Government Wanted Speak Television Decided Fellows South South Africa Banned

Author:Nadine Gordimer

“Once you have some sort of reputation in the outside world, they will try to woo you. They will say, "Won't you come and be on a talk program about books? That's not political." Then they can say to the outside world, "See how free it is, she appears on television. See how free it is." So I refused to have anything of mine read or dramatized on South African television.”

World Trying Book Political Television Mines Program South Reputation South Africa Outside World

Author:Nadine Gordimer

“The far right is saying to us: Forget about the two-state solution, it is going to be a Jewish state from the coast to Jordan. The left wing says you have to forget about Jewish self-determination, you will have to live as a minority in an Arab state - just like the whites in South Africa. The key word that both have in mind is that the situation in the West Bank is "irrevocable." It is one of the words I dislike the most.”

Mind Two Self States Left Forget Situation Keys Solutions Determination Wings West South Minorities Dislike Self Determination South Africa Coast Jordan Left Wing Irrevocable

Author:Amos Oz

“The inaction of the international community towards Guatemala is injustifiable. The community should play an active role with concrete measures and sanctions imposed, as was the case in South Africa, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Cuba and Haiti. Why for us no? Why legalize death in one place and somewhere else no? This is clear in our memories.”

“If you look at the history of the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller, in Latin America, in Indonesia, where almost a million people, mainly Communists, were killed by General Suharto, who was backed by the CIA, in South Africa, in the US Civil Rights Movement - or even now, it's very disturbing. They have always worked closely with the US State Department.”

People Ifs Looks States America Millions Rights Movement Foundation South Civil Rights Department Latin Communist South Africa Disturbing Indonesia Cia Civil Rights Movement Latin America

Author:Arundhati Roy

“I know it feels like two steps forward and one step back, but we are making progress. In my lifetime, I have lived through one World War, I have lived through the end of Apartheid in South Africa, the pulling down of the Berlin Wall. I have experienced what I never thought I would have experienced, which is a pretty workable peace in Northern Ireland, and I experienced a unified Europe - until the Conservative government got its hands on the idea that in order to appease a few back-benchers they would hold a referendum, what a disastrous idea.”

“God looks at the Middle East, looks at Palestine. When you go to the Holy Land and see what's being done to the Palestinians at checkpoints, for us, it's the kind of thing we experienced in South Africa.”

Looks Kind Done Land Middle Holy South East Middle East Palestinian South Africa Palestine Being Done Holy Land Checkpoints

Author:Desmond Tutu

“The United States was the one nullifying any attempt in the Security Council of the United Nations to sanction those fascist governments, really segregationist and racist. The same thing it is doing for Israel is what it used to do for South Africa who ended up having seven nuclear weapons. Why didn't they act against them like they did against Iraq for the so called weapons of mass destruction during Bush that never existed in the first place?”

“When the nuclear weapons were sent to the racist South African government, where a few million white people subjugated more than 13 million black people, it was so they could use them against the Cuban forces that were defending Angola. These things have not been written down but they need to be told as part of the reality of history which should not be distorted the way the historians connected to the power elite tend to do.”

“The role that Cuba played and the lives of those 2,077 Cubans, whose mothers and families mourn for having lost their children in Africa, helped achieve the true security and independence of Angola. It was a contribution because in the end the Angolan people were the ones who decided that. We also contributed in a definitive way securing the independence of Namibia after years that a United Nations resolution was being ignored by South Africa and the western powers.”

“With the Cuban presence in Namibia it was possible to achieve the security and real freedom of that country and the end of Apartheid in South Africa, with the modest contribution of the international military presence in Africa.”

Real Ends Country Achieve Security Military South International Contribution South Africa Modest Apartheid Cuban Real Freedom Military Presence Namibia

Author:Alejandro Castro Espin

“To achieve effectiveness and legitimacy it is time to scrap the right of veto given to permanent members of the UN, or at least severely restrict its use. It is also time to either abandon the idea of permanent membership or broaden it to reflect the rise of non-Western states to the status of global leaders (e.g. Brazil, India, Indonesia, Turkey, South Africa), and to downgrade European representation by either giving the European Union a single seat or rotating a European state among Germany, France, UK, and Italy.”

“When you go to South Africa, you get a different vibe and a different sound. The music is awesome the people are loving it. When you go to Botswana, it's a different ball game. The people out there love Afro Beat Hip Hop so much. When you go to Sierra Leone it's different, when you go to Nigeria it's different... It's all pretty exciting!”

People Different Games Sound Music Is Beats Balls Exciting South Hip Hop Hips Hops South Africa Nigeria Sierra Ball Games Afros Sierra Leone

Author:Ice Prince

“The BRIC countries - Brazil, India, China, Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia even, and Russia - are now new actors. Over the last eight years, China multiplied by seven its economic presence and penetration in the Middle East. And if this happens on economic terms and there is a shift towards the East, the relationship between these countries and Israel is completely different from the United States. And it means that the challenges are going to be different, because China is not supporting Israel the way the U.S. are supporting Israel.”

“Think bigger than society lets you think. And find mentors. My life is filled with people who knew me when I was 19 and had a horrible South African accent and bleach-blond hair and who believed in me in a way that was brutal. They were just unbelievable and consistent and smart. Find mentors who, every time you're with them, you're being schooled. Just absolutely schooled.”

People Thinking Smart Horrible Consistent Mentor Brutal South Africa Unbelievable Find Me Think Big

Author:Charlize Theron

“I grew up during apartheid; there was never a day in South Africa that was just great. I love that I've had success as an actor and producer, but I know the thing my children will know most about is the work I've done with HIV. Success in life is all about humanity.”

Children Done Humanity Producers My Children South Africa Success In Life Apartheid

Author:Charlize Theron

“I have found that the people in South Africa are fabulous. Thy are receptive and value fulfilling their lives. They are highly spirited and have dreams and desires to serve. I have learned how resourceful and efficient many people are able to live and how creative they can be and how much love they have for the families and extended loved ones. I love the spirit of South Africans.”

People Dream Spirit Desire Values Creative Loved Ones South Africa I Have Learned Fulfilling Fabulous Resourceful

Author:John Frederick Demartini

“Nelson Mandela was a terrorist. And then he wins the world peace prize and becomes president of South Africa. That's how change happens. It's very important not to differentiate protest from the democratic process.”

World Important Winning President Democratic Terrorist Protest Prize South Africa

Author:Tony Benn

“Mandela didn't end Apartheid in South Africa, the poor guy was in jail for 27 years, it was the African people that ended it but he was a symbol of their struggle. Or Gandhi in India, Gandhi was a great believer in non-violence and he was in and out of jail, but India became free. I think it's better to look at what people can do collectively and that's why it's so important to encourage them.”

People Thinking Important Guy Poor Struggle Believer South Africa Apartheid

Author:Tony Benn

“I went to South Africa - Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg - and those were definitely the "I've arrived" shows. Outside of the money, the success, the accolades ... This is a place that we, in urban communities, never dream of. We never dream of Africa. Like, "Damn, this is the motherland." You feel it as soon as you touch down. That moment changed my whole perspective on how to convey my art.”

Art Moments Dream Community Changed Perspective South Africa Urban

Author:Kendrick Lamar

“We can't change the fossil fuel companies' behavior in isolation from the rest of the industrial system. As long as they have customers, they're going to continue to operate, whether or not we divest of their stock. However, divesting might be helpful in terms of disrupting the story that what these companies do is perfectly okay. This situation differs from apartheid in a key regard though: racial equality in South Africa was no threat whatsoever to capitalism as we know it. Ending the fossil fuel era is a much deeper change.”

Long Term Situation Behavior Capitalism Okay Threat Isolation Helpful South Africa Fossil Fuel Apartheid

Author:Charles Eisenstein

“I've been typecast. People don't want to take a risk or a chance. Quite a few times they've come up to me and say "We want you to do that Russian accent." And I'll be like, "How about if I do an Irish accent or a South African accent," and they don't trust that you can properly pull them off.”

People Chance Risk South Africa

Author:Scott Adkins

“We always seem to be surprised by events, especially by catastrophes, but also by wonderful events. Look at 1990, the year that the Soviet Union collapsed and apartheid in South Africa collapsed and the Berlin Wall came down. I don't know anyone who foresaw those events. It seems to me that as a species we are constantly trying to adapt ourselves to the unexpected. In the meantime, we talk as if we are in control, and we're not. This seems to me to be the truth about the twentieth century.”

Trying Wonderful Wall Unexpected Soviet South Africa Catastrophe Soviet Union Apartheid Berlin Wall

Author:Doris Lessing

“Giving back has to do with the way I was brought up and the fact that I've traveled widely and seen terrible situations in the world. To sleep well at night, those of us who are in a position to help must address these situations. I'd get far greater satisfaction out of, say, walking into a hospital I'd built in South Africa than I would by sitting on a beach. I'm fortunate enough to be in a position to make a difference, and I don't want to waste that. I suspect I was also lucky to have parents who drove me from a young age.”

World Giving Enough Helping Age Night Parent Sleep Situation Terrible Walking Lucky Beach Making A Difference South Africa Giving Back So Lucky Sleep Well

Author:Richard Branson

“As Israel becomes like South Africa, it's increasingly becoming a pariah state, being excluded from culture at large.”

Culture South Africa

Author:Norman Finkelstein

“With better education and affluence there have been more Egyptians interested in nature. There are now more Egyptian divers, desert safari enthusiasts and ecotourists - I know Egyptian who have traveled to Antarctica, Tanzania, South Africa and climbed the Himalayas. Now Egyptians are talking of wanting to explore and see more of their own country. I believe they too will fall in love with Egypt and will want to protect it. The revolution is a process, it will take time, but at least there is hope now!”

Believe Country Fall I Believe Revolution Protect Falling In Love Take Time South Africa Egyptian There Is Hope Antarctica

Author:Mindy Baha El Din

“I find it terribly distracting in movies when people do accents, I must say, unless it's terribly serious and the story is rooted in South Africa and you're doing a South African accent. But in period movies I think nothing can be more distracting than people doing accents.”

People Thinking Serious South Africa

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“Fifteen years after the new dispensations started in South Africa, if one looks back, there are reasons to be positive and say we have achieved what we wanted to achieve, but there are also reasons for concern. Not everything turned out exactly as I would have liked it to turn out. On the positive side, we have a good constitution, there has been no effort to really amend the constitution and change the values and the principles contained therein and in our bill of rights.”

Reason Values Effort Achieve Concern Constitution South Africa Being Positive Bill Of Rights

Author:Frederik Willem de Klerk

“Criminal trials are fundamentally about individual accountability whereas truth commissions are less about the guilt of the perpetrator and more about the suffering of the victim. A criminal trial is only incidentally a therapeutic or cathartic process for victims. But truth commissions, as we saw in South Africa, have the advantage of giving tens of thousands of people the opportunity to tell their stories, and not only does that contribute to healing but it also contributes to reconciliation, especially when perpetrators also come and express contrition.”

People Giving Suffering Opportunity Individual Healing Victim Guilt Accountability South Africa Reconciliation

Author:Payam Akhavan

“What I supported when I was a young man, was that the solution to bring justice to all in South Africa, was to build a little Europe there. Was to create so many nation states as there are actual nations, each with their own cultures, each with their own languages, that is what separate development tried and wanted to achieve.”

Men Culture Language Justice Achieve Solutions South Africa

Author:Frederik Willem de Klerk

“From the time I entered cabinet, the emphasis was on reforms, but reforms which did not abolish separate development, but reforms which were aimed at changing the very, very dehumanising aspects. Giving greater freedom of movement, giving private property ownership within so-called white South Africa also to blacks. Abolishing the concept of job reservation on the basis of race and colour. Allowing free organisation for trade unions, also black trade unions.”

Giving Black Trade Property South Africa Ownership Private Property

Author:Frederik Willem de Klerk

“Race is not the only differential in South Africa, in the new South Africa, where all schools are open, mother-tongue education is a very big issue. One of the main reasons why the dropout figure of black students, and the lower pass rate of black students in the present education system, and it was like that before, was that we didn't have mother-tongue education.”

Reason School Black Students Rate South Africa Education System

Author:Frederik Willem de Klerk

“With this job, always traveling on the plane and everything, I thought it would be really difficult to quit drinking on my own because you're always in situations where it's acceptable to have drinks. So I decided right after a show that I was going to go into treatment. I Googled a bunch of places, and I found this place that I went to in Cape Town, South Africa, called Stepping Stones. I stayed there for a month. It was really difficult-lots of talking and crying.”

Difficult Situation Cry Drink Drinking Quitting South Africa Quit Drinking

Author:Lara Stone

“In South Africa one in four women have AIDS. When you are there it is shocking. So many people are dying from the disease and the same number are getting the disease each year. My main goal was to learn and call attention to some of the things that were happening.”

People Goal Attention Dying Aids South Africa

Author:Kristin Davis

“Peace cannot come without the engagement of those who have been before. Gen. Dostum will make peace possible. He was engaged in conflict of the past. Forgiveness is an extremely important part of our culture. But, like Rwanda and South Africa, we need to fashion our own solution.”

Important Past Culture Fashion Conflict Solutions South Africa Making Peace Rwanda

Author:Ashraf Ghani

“I tell you, Bono may have a point. South Africa needs a Walmart.”

Needs May South South Africa Walmart

Author:Rush Limbaugh

“Everybody now admits that apartheid was wrong, and all I did was tell the people who wanted to know where I come from how we lived in South Africa. I just told the world the truth. And if my truth then becomes political, I can't do anything about that.”

People Ifs Knows World I Can Wanted Political South South Africa Apartheid My Truth

Author:Miriam Makeba

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

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

“We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”

Use Political Time Hope Politics Realizing Inspiring Courage Forever Conviction More Time New Year South Africa Graduation Not Giving Up Ripe Ripe Fruit

Author:Nelson Mandela

“Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.”

Beautiful Inspiring Land Hair Oppression South Africa Oppressed Apartheid Indignity Long Walk To Freedom Anti Racist Anti Discrimination Political Oppression Beautiful Land Never Never Land

Author:Nelson Mandela

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

Source: Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations

“If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.”

Ifs Two Dream Beautiful Goal Goodness Forgiveness South South Africa Two Roads

Author:Nelson Mandela

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

Peace Water Nature Bread Salt South Africa Indignity Grain Of Salt Salt Of The Earth Beautiful Land

Author:Nelson Mandela

“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.”

“I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.”

People Humility Humble Servant Prophet South Africa Be Humble Apartheid

Author:Nelson Mandela

“Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.”

Men Inspiring Mines Resolution Contracts Prisoner South Africa Negotiation Free Man Apartheid Negotiating Your Freedom Win Win

Author:Nelson Mandela

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South Africa Quotes