Top 1034 Quotes & Sayings by South African Authors

When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.

It always seems impossible until it's done.

I don't think age matters. In cricket, if you have the skill, you can go on playing.

I opened Leith's in Notting Hill in 1969 and it eventually worked its way into being awarded a Michelin star. At the time, there were a few women running small bistros - but I was the first woman to have a 'serious,' expensive restaurant.

I am fully aware that cricket is like a second religion in Pakistan.

We need to transform our rural areas, restore the land to its rightful owners, and significantly grow our agricultural output.

The idea behind fast food is great - people want convenience.

I want my work to contribute toward creating a better society, toward bringing people together. That is always the first consideration, not the money.

We all have these shades in our nature: it's a spectrum within all of us.

When you work together in a creative way, you have to be less selfish about your ideas and learn to let both parties feel valued. Of course, that's also a really great quality to have in a relationship, too.

What you know is what you know, both culturally and practically, and you use it to the greatest effect you can.

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.

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

God made me the way I am, and I accept myself. I am who I am, and I'm proud of myself.

If they ever do my life story, whoever plays me needs lots of hair color and high heels.

The fight for freedom must go on until it is won; until our country is free and happy and peaceful as part of the community of man, we cannot rest.

You can be beautiful and you can be smart and you can make a meaningful difference in your community, in your country, in your world.

Mondays are a good day to make statements, not Friday.

The only real things in life is the unexpected things. Everything else is just an illusion.

There is something fundamentally fascinating about the mechanics, I guess, of the human body and where consciousness and mind exist, and what you can do with the mechanics of the body while keeping those intact, and where those two cross over.

Fortunately, the way I play tennis, I don't have to spend too much time analyzing or worrying about my opponents. I typically try to focus on my own game, and I know if I do that and execute, I can beat anyone.

Everyone is into male grooming.

We have a shared destiny, a shared responsibility to save the world from those who attempt to destroy it.

Whatever you go into, you have to go in there to be the best. There's no formulas. It's all about passion and honesty and hard work. It might look glamorous, but it takes a lot of hard work. The blessing with the arts is that you can do it forever.

I'm so thankful for dance because if I had grown up with just the bitterness of the very hard childhood we had, and I'd never 'experienced the love of the dance world, then I probably would have been a very sad person.

We should be teaching young girls to take up space. Nothing is as important as taking up space in society and cementing yourself.

I lost contact with my father for many years because of apartheid. For, like, six years, I didn't see my dad. And, now, this was the six years of being a teenager.

I'm fascinated by how much has changed from one generation to another. There are young people growing up now for whom apartheid is just a distant memory and the idea of military service is an abstract notion.

You can't judge an album by a single song; it's like judging a book by only reading a single chapter.

I'm always in disguise in one form or another in my plays.

I fear no motion of no confidence or impeachment, for they are the lawful mechanisms for the people of this beautiful country to remove their president.

I like a man who looks like a bad boy but knows how to treat a woman like a queen.

I couldn't ask for anything else. I am super, super happy.

I have an obligation to use what I know to try to bring real, usable medical science to every doctor and bedside and patient.

To get where you want to go you can't only do what you like.

The end of confession is to tell the truth to and for oneself.

Even when bad things happen you have to try to use those bad things in a positive manner and really just take the positive out of it.

Anti-Semitism is not just a problem for Jews; it is a problem for all of our society.

South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.

One of the most beautiful experiences our family shared was feeling the love and bond that came to life when my mother was battling her ovarian cancer. In a way, it brought our family together and opened up relationships and a closeness that was not felt before her diagnosis.

You don't expect to get the letter saying, Her Majesty would like to appoint you Knight Commander of the British Empire! It was just a completely overwhelming and exciting day.

When we watch stories, we learn empathy, we learn compassion, and hopefully we achieve some sort of understanding.

I observed a man sourcing candle wax from South America and selling it to Japan. I thought: 'That's unbelievable. Talking on the phone in his office, that man made money moving candle wax from one country to another.' It really interested me.

For me, with music, there is no half-stepping. This is my calling.

If you have heart and you are ready to work hard you will reach your dreams.

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

It's not difficult in South Africa for the ordinary person to see the link between capitalism and racist exploitation, and when one sees the link one immediately thinks in terms of a socialist alternative.

For our white members, voting is something they have done for hundreds of years. But for us, it is not such a traumatic thing, because we have never participated in an election.

Even people that I agree with can do something that would be a target for a bit of humor.

I'd like to show people that if you put the hard work in and you believe in yourself, then you can do whatever you want to.

Children drop out of school because they're hungry. By providing a meal at school we have seen an increase in attendance.

Golf is growing, and there are more good young players, but you don't see them going abroad. It's so expensive to travel.

Diamonds are intrinsically worthless, except for the deep psychological need they fill.

When I talk about the end of apartheid, I prefer not to claim the honor that I have ended it.

Girls are the future mothers of our society, and it is important that we focus on their well-being.

Jews have had to carry around their own sense of self in a carpet bag and I think perhaps too much emphasis might be being put on nationality and on the other hand patriotism, that sort of thing.

My dad always taught me never to give up in my mind. You can never really beat me. It sounds ridiculous, but I will always come back for you. You can't beat someone who never gives up. I could lose 100 times to you, but I will always get you. I will die trying. This applies not only to swimming but to my life as well.

My mom used to make my costumes when I was little; she sews a lot. One year, I was a bride and I had a big wedding dress and a bouquet. Another year I was a medieval princess with a long teal dress and a veil. It was a little extravagant, but it was cute!

I would love to do more acting; I really would love to do it, particularly character acting. I'm a character type of actor; I love situations where I've got a bit of room to improvise on the character.

If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't.