Top 1034 Quotes & Sayings by South African Authors - Page 5

How could I have been anyone other than me?

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.

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

Free education for all - whilst it is a desirable notion, in South Africa it will simply not be affordable.

I try not to get too political. But coming from South Africa, where apartheid was a huge problem, and there was lots of inequality, has shaped me in terms of how I view certain issues.

It is funny to me that people think of St. Lucia as this, like, feel-good band.

A charity approached me to help raise awareness for testicular cancer and there are now some great photos of famous South Africans in their pants helping to spread the word.

Yoga helps me with a composed and serene state of mind, which is good for writing.

There's only so much you can do, but if somebody doesn't give you a chance there is nothing you can do.

There are times when leadership needs to take a bold move forward. And there are times when the leadership needs to act on the basis of what the grass roots say. You need to have your political thermometer constantly in the political waters to know when to give leadership in what way.

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

You can get a diamond which is worth 10 cents; you can get a diamond of exactly the same size, which is worth a hundred dollars.

You can't go to a negotiating table pointing a gun, but you've got to keep it over your shoulder.

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

For me, personally, life in South Africa had come to an end. I had been lucky in some of the whites I had met. Meeting them had made a straight 'all-blacks-are-good, all-whites-are-bad' attitude impossible. But I had reached a point where the gestures of even my friends among the whites were suspect, so I had to go or be forever lost.

I've said I will be CEO as long as my colleagues want me.

I can understand how you can feel very lucky about the kind of life you live but also intrigued and magnetized to a different life.

When a man has been consistently battering his wife, he shouldn't expect a bouquet of roses from her the morning after he promises to stop.

I use myself as a template for my comedy. So first my background as a Muslim man, my being a doctor, I talk about my family quite a lot, my kids. Anything that resonates with me I talk about. The important thing is it should be able to work in a family setting.

People react to 'District 9' and Die Antwoord on the same level.

I love the time I spend in Lahore and learn more about the culture every day.

Art is universal. When works of art become classics, it is because they transcend geographical boundaries, racial barriers and time.

I've always loved the power of stories to transport me to another world, to imagine extraordinary possibilities, to experience things I may not have access to in my regular life - like being a superhero! Also, I would always put on shows for my family and the neighbors; I guess I was an actor before I even knew it.

I accept that it is not always moonshine and roses, and you can't expect things must always go your way.

Protest theater has a place again. It's not against whites or apartheid. It is against injustice and anything that fails our people.

Any radical change or trauma always makes for interesting subject matter, but then all stories deal, to some extent, with the disjuncture between past and present.

I got my heel stuck in a drain as I was crossing the street and cars were coming. It was really scary. A girl in heels in New York is a hard combination.

The rabbis will find in me personally someone who cares about their future and welfare.

I have always thought that the rapid economic development of South Africa would in the long run prove to be incompatible with the government's racial policies, and recent events have tended to confirm my opinion.

There have been so many majors that got away, starting at Riviera in '95, taking a three-shot lead into the final round of the PGA and not winning.

I have a thing for earphones - I have five types.

Over the time that I followed Warren Buffett, one CFO told me, it's very important to pay attention not only to what Warren Buffett says and what he actually does - often there are subtle differences between the two.

To make physical gains, you would go to the gym and lift weights. It's the same for the mental side. The work you put in on the mental side needs the same dedication as the physical side.

I have always had a dream to take part in an Olympic Games, and losing my leg didn't change anything.

Faith is a really important part of my life and inspires me in all facets of my life, including my songwriting and my singing.

Not many people whose series gets cancelled get to come and put the period at the end of the sentence.

My dream was always to win in the Olympic Games, but I never set that next goal, and I have realised now I need to set another goal.

I hang around under the radar. Nobody is bothering me for interviews.

I don't think Africa gets as much credit as it should have on the world stage. People tend to think of us as coming from The Dark Continent, where nothing good goes on. That's not true. A huge amount of, as I say, entrepreneurship goes on.

I think our problems are inherently unsolvable. We need to change our genetic make-up or create computers that will think us out of it. I don't think humans are able to deal with what we have.

Smell was our first sense. It is even possible that being able to smell was the stimulus that took a primitive fish and turned a small lump of olfactory tissue on its nerve cord into a brain. We think because we smelled.

I'm going to become the Pope next year. Nothing is impossible.

The pancreas is by far the most complex organ in the body.

Off the show, I still wear my £5 leggings.

Something I worked very hard on, especially last year, was being more outgoing on the court: recognising good points I'd played and trusting myself and my skills on the court. The fist pumps weren't necessarily to let my opponent know I was here, more to let myself know that I'm here.

Pretty much whoever wins the tournament at the end of the week is the guy that putted probably the best.

I have a phenomenal team behind me who have helped get me here and I, along with them, will now put everything we can into the final few weeks of preparations before the Olympic Games, where I am aiming to race well, work well through the rounds, post good times and maybe even a personal best time on the biggest stage of them all.

Who knows for what we live, and struggle, and die? Wise men write many books, in words too hard to understand. But this, the purpose of our lives, the end of all our struggle, is beyond all human wisdom.

But if you are going to wear blinders then you do not know the world.

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.

It's unfortunate, I've been the victim of some Australian press.

Life is too short for long-term grudges.

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

I have a very genuine care for individuals; I have a very genuine sense of the power of individuals to make a difference, a very genuine belief that people matter, a very genuine belief of wanting the very best for individuals.

Together we have travelled a long road to be where we are today. This has been a road of struggle against colonial and apartheid oppression.

While silence can in some circumstances bespeak noble self-control, it can also signify suppression, oblivion or cowardice.

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.

We have a history in South Africa of an entrenched white monopoly capital.

I think people forget that a lot of directing is just real management of the size of a production.

It's important to choose initial investors who are not twitchy and rushing for an exit. Wall Street's quarter-by-quarter lens may make the CEO make sub-optimal long-term decisions.