22 Quotes & Sayings By Alan Paton

Alan Paton is a South African writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964. He is known both for his own writing and for the books he wrote with his wife, Phyllis Bottome. Born in Johannesburg in 1919, he moved to East London in 1932. At a young age, he began writing short stories Read more

After being published, his first novel, Cry, the Beloved Country (1948), was banned by the apartheid government. In 1948, Paton married Phyllis Bottome and had two children with her. Together they wrote Cry, the Beloved Country and The House Gun (1960).

After the end of apartheid in 1994, Paton continued to write about political issues, including Apartheid (1996), which won him another Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988; The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (2004), which was adapted into a film in 2007; and Strangers: A Novel (2016).

1
I have always found that actively lovingsaves one from a morbid preoccupationwith the shortcomings of society. Alan Paton
2
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. Alan Paton
3
There is only one way in which one can endure man's inhumanity to man and that is to try, in one's own life, to exemplify man's humanity to man. Alan Paton
4
There is a hard law. When an injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive. Alan Paton
5
There's a hard law, mejuffrou, that when a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive. Alan Paton
6
– 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. Alan Paton
7
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? Alan Paton
8
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. Alan Paton
9
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. Alan Paton
10
But to punish and not to restore, that is the greatest of all offences. Alan Paton
11
- 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. Alan Paton
12
Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that's 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. Alan Paton
13
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 husband's 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 can't fill your stomach on privacy. You need privacy when your children are growing up, but you can't fill your stomach on it. Yes, I shall take three shillings and sixpence. . Alan Paton
14
All roads lead to Johannesburg. If you are white or if you are black they lead to Johannesburg. If the crops fail, there is work in Johannesburg. If there are taxes to be paid, there is work in Johannesburg. If the farm is too small to be divided further, some must go to Johannesburg. If there is a child to be born that must be delivered in secret, it can be delivered in Johannesburg. Alan Paton
15
Indeed, there is something in this valley, some spirit and some life, and much to talk about in the huts. Although nothing has come yet, something is here already. Alan Paton
16
Life has ... taught me not to expect success to be the inevitable result of my endeavors. She taught me to seek sustenance from the endeavor itself but to leave the result to God. Alan Paton
17
When men are ruled by fear they strive to prevent the very changes that will abate it. Alan Paton
18
Life has not taught me to expect nothing but she has taught me not to expect success to be the inevitable result of my endeavors. Alan Paton
19
When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive. Alan Paton
20
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. Alan Paton
21
To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one's responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton