Quotes by Alan Paton

“To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man.”

“There is only one way in which one can endure mans inhumanity to man and that is to try, in ones own life, to exemplify mans humanity to man.”

“I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they (the whites of South Africa) have turned to loving, they will find we (the blacks) are turned to hating.”

“Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply... For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.”

“You ask yourself not if this or that is expedient, but if it is right.”

“I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they are turned to loving, they will find we are turned to hating”

“I envision someday a great, peaceful South Africa in which the world will take pride, a nation in which each of many different groups will be making its own creative contribution.”

I have always found that actively lovingsaves one from a morbid preoccupationwith the shortcomings of society.

They were your friends?Yes, they were my friends.And they will leave you to suffer alone?Now I see it.And until this, were they friends you could trust?I could trust them.I see what you mean. You mean they were the kind of friends that a good man could choose, upright, hard-working, obeying the law?Tell me, were they such friends?And now they leave you alone?Did you not see it before?I saw it.

There is only one way in which one can endure mans inhumanity to man and that is to try, in ones own life, to exemplify mans humanity to man.

There is a hard law. When an injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.

Theres a hard law, mejuffrou, that when a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.

— This world is full of trouble, umfundisi.— Who knows it better?— Yet you believe? Kumalo looked at him under the light of the lamp. I believe, he said, but I have learned that it is a secret. Pain and suffering, they are a secret. Kindness and love, they are a secret. But I have learned that kindness and love can pay for pain and suffering. There is my wife, and you, my friend, and these people who welcomed me, and the child who is so eager to be with us here in Ndotsheni – so in my suffering I can believe.— I have never thought that a Christian would be free of suffering, umfundisi. For our Lord suffered. And I come to believe that he suffered, not to save us from suffering, but to teach us how to bear suffering. For he knew that there is no life without suffering.Kumalo looked at his friend with joy. You are a preacher, he said.

He pondered long over this, for might not another man, returning to another valley, have found none of these things? Why was it given to one man to have his pain transmuted into gladness? Why was it given to one man to have such an awareness of God?

When I go up there, which is my intention, the Big Judge will say to me, “Where are your wounds?” and if I say I haven’t any, he will say, “Was there nothing to fight for?” I couldn’t face that question.

In the meantime the strike is over, with a remarkably low loss of life. All is quiet, they report, all is quiet.In the deserted harbour there is yet water that laps against the quays. In the dark and silent forest there is a leaf that falls. Behind the polished panelling the white ant eats away the wood. Nothing is ever quiet, except for fools.

But to punish and not to restore, that is the greatest of all offences.

- Mr. Berg, Are you an Afrikaner?- Yes-And are you proud of it?-I am not ashamed of it, but I am not proud of it, for in fact I had nothing to do with it.

Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child thats the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing. Nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him if he gives too much.

Have you a room that you could let?Yes, I have a room that I could let, but I do not want to let it. I have only two rooms, and there are six of us already, and the boys and girls are growing up. But school books cost money, and my husband is ailing, and when he is well it is only thirty-five shillings a week. And six shillings of that is for the rent, and three shillings of that is for the rent, and three shillings for travelling, and a shilling that we may all be buried decently, and a shilling for the books, and three shillings is for clothes and that is little enough, and a shilling for my husbands beer, and a shilling for his tobacco, and these I do not grudge for he is a decent man and does not gamble or spend his money on other women, and a shilling for the Church, and a shilling for sickness. And that leaves seventeen shillings for food for six, and we are always hungry. Yes I have a room but I do not want to let it. How much could you pay?I could pay three shillings a week for the room.And I would not take it.Three shillings and sixpence.Three shillings and sixpence. You cant fill your stomach on privacy. You need privacy when your children are growing up, but you cant fill your stomach on it. Yes, I shall take three shillings and sixpence.