Alan Paton Quotes

South African writer and activist (1903-1988)

Alan Stewart Paton (11 January 1903 – 12 April 1988) was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist.

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Alternative Names: Alan Patton • Alan Stewart Paton • Alen Peṭon

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It is not permissible for us to go on destroying the family life when we know that we are destroying it.

I see only one hope for our country, and that is when white men and black men . . . desiring only the good of their country, come together to work for it. . . . 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.

...when a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.

....for the black moods and the angers and the cold withdrawals that robbed her of the simple joys of her quiet and humble life.

For what can men do when so many have grown lawless? Who can enjoy the lovely land, who can enjoy the seventy years, and the sun that pours down on the earth, when there is fear in the heart? Who can walk quietly in the shadow of the jacarandas, when their beauty is grown to danger? Who can lie peacefully abed, while the darkness holds some secret? What lovers can lie sweetly under the stars, when menace grows with the measure of their seclusion?

A word from you is twice as severe because it comes from you.

Happy the eyes that can close.

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

Sorrow is better than fear. Fear is a journey,a terrible journey, but sorrow is at least an arrival. When the storm threatens, a man is afraid for his house. But when the house is destroyed, there is something to do. About a storm he can do nothing, but he can rebuild a house.