127 Quotes by Alan Paton

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.

Cry for the broken tribe, for the law and the custom that is gone. Aye, and cry aloud for the man who is dead, for the woman and children bereaved. Cry, the beloved country, these things are not yet at an end. The sun pours down on the earth, on the lovely land that man cannot enjoy. He knows only the fear of his heart.

Does he repent him or is there only room for his fear?

Nothing is ever quiet, except for fools.

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.

Meneer, said the captain, if man takes unto himself God's right to punish, then he must also take upon himself God's promise to restore.

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

- 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.