Quotes by South African Authors - Page 6

The religious worry about life after death at the expense of life before death.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
The house was safe again, although a little bit more untidy, but at least Vluffy didn’t have to worry about big nasty two headed roaches chasing him down the hall anymore.
Christina Engela
Reading Shakespeare is sometimes like looking through a window into a dark room. You don't see in. You see nothing but a reflection of yourself unable to see in. An unflattering image of yourself blind.
Antony Sher
I’m having my lunch when I hear a familiar hoarse shout, ‘Oy Tony!’ I whip round, damaging my neck further, to see Michael Gambon in the lunch queue. …Gambon tells me the story of Olivier auditioning him at the Old Vic in 1962. His audition speech was from Richard III. ‘See, Tone, I was thick as two short planks then and I didn’t know he’d had a rather notable success in the part. I was just shitting myself about meeting the Great Man. He sussed how green I was and started farting around.’As reported by Gambon, their conversation went like this:Olivier: ‘What are you going to do for me?’Gambon: ‘Richard the Third.’Olivier: ‘Is that so. Which part?’Gambon: ‘Richard the Third.’Olivier: ‘Yes, but which part?’Gambon: ‘Richard the Third.’Olivier: ‘Yes, I understand that, but which part?’Gambon: ‘Richard the Third.’Olivier: ‘But which character? Catesby? Ratcliffe? Buckingham’s a good part …’Gambon: ‘Oh I see, beg your pardon, no, Richard the Third.’Olivier: ‘What, the King? Richard?’Gambon: ‘ — the Third, yeah.’Olivier: “You’ve got a fucking cheek, haven’t you?’Gambon: ‘Beg your pardon?’Olivier: ‘Never mind, which part are you going to do?’Gambon: ‘Richard the Third.’Olivier: ‘Don’t start that again. Which speech?’Gambon: ‘Oh I see, beg your pardon, “Was every woman in this humour woo’d.”‘Olivier: ‘Right. Whenever you’re ready.’Gambon: ‘ “Was ever woman in this humour woo’d –” ‘Olivier: ‘Wait. Stop. You’re too close. Go further away. I need to see the whole shape, get the full perspective.’Gambon: ‘Oh I see, beg your pardon …’ Gambon continues, ‘So I go over to the far end of the room, Tone, thinking that I’ve already made an almighty tit of myself, so how do I save the day? Well I see this pillar and I decide to swing round it and start the speech with a sort of dramatic punch. But as I do this my ring catches on a screw and half my sodding hand gets left behind. I think to myself, “Now I mustn’t let this throw me since he’s already got me down as a bit of an arsehole”, so I plough on … “Was ever woman in this humour woo’d –”‘Olivier: ‘Wait. Stop. What’s the blood?’Gambon: ‘Nothing, nothing, just a little gash, I do beg your pardon …’A nurse had to be called and he suffered the indignity of being given first aid with the greatest actor in the world passing the bandages. At last it was done.Gambon: ‘Shall I start again?’Olivier: ‘No. I think I’ve got a fair idea how you’re going to do it. You’d better get along now. We’ll let you know.’Gambon went back to the engineering factory in Islington where he was working. At four that afternoon he was bent over his lathe, working as best as he could with a heavily bandaged hand, when he was called to the phone. It was the Old Vic.‘It’s not easy talking on the phone, Tone. One, there’s the noise of the machinery. Two, I have to keep my voice down ’cause I’m cockney at work and posh with theatre people. But they offer me a job, spear-carrying, starting immediately. I go back to my work-bench, heart beating in my chest, pack my tool-case, start to go. The foreman comes up, says, “Oy, where you off to?” “I’ve got bad news,” I say, “I’ve got to go.” He says, “Why are you taking your tool box?” I say, “I can’t tell you, it’s very bad news, might need it.” And I never went back there, Tone. Home on the bus, heart still thumping away. A whole new world ahead. We tend to forget what it felt like in the beginning.
Antony Sher
In the distance,far over there, only the eyes can travel when the body is weary.
Yvette Christiansë
What I did not know was how longing could store itself away in the hollows of one's bones and then one day without warning flood out.
J.M. Coetzee
Verlange. The process feels like crossing a border on a one-way ticket, from a state of innocence, to one of irreconcilable knowledge. You are in a new country. But no one wants to live here. The visas are assigned by some obscure system nobody can comprehend.
Karina Szczurek
The correspondence testifies to the frailty of human longings, to the process of how something precious can turn fatal, a reality become illusion. We are reminded that love should be cherished when it comes your way, because no matter in what form it arrives, carrying no matter what baggage in its fragile beautiful hands, you should welcome it and protect it from the harshness of this world.
Karina Szczurek
Fulfilled desires, like pleasures (even of the intrinsic kind), are states of achievement rather than default states. For instance, one has to work at satiating oneself, while hunger comes naturally. After one has eaten or taken liquid, bowel and bladder discomfort ensues quite naturally and we have to seek relief. One has to seek out pleasurable sensations, in the absence of which blandness comes naturally. The upshot of this is that we must continually work at keeping suffering (including tedium) at bay, and we can do so only imperfectly. Dissatisfaction does and must pervade life. There are moments, perhaps even periods, of satisfaction, but they occur against a background of dissatisfied striving. Pollyannaism may cause most people to blur out this background, but it remains there.
David Benatar
Only an unsatisfied preference is bad. In other words, he argues that although it is good to have fulfilled whatever desires one might have, one is not better off having a fulfilled desire than having no desire at all. By way of example, consider the case in which we ‘paint the tree nearest to Sydney Opera house red and give Kate a pill that makes her wish that the tree nearest to Sydney Opera House were red’*. Professor Fehige plausibly denies that we do Kate any favour in doing this. She is no better off than had we done nothing. What matters is not that people have satisfied desires but that they do not have unsatisfied ones. It is the avoidance of frustration that is important.* Fehige, Christoph, ‘A Pareto Principle for Possible People’, 513–14.
David Benatar
Don't be a bully, don't be meanBe a hero, don't be afraid to be seen.
Christina Engela
When God grabs you by the scruff of the neck then although theoretically you have a freedom to say 'no', in another sense, actually, you can't say no because it's like Jeremiah. 'God, you have cheated me. You called me to be a prophet against the people that I love, and all that I proclaim is words of doom and judgement.' And yet if I say "I will shut up", I can't.
Desmond Tutu
The greatest crime ever created is caring and loving.
Unarine Ramaru
Time limps when you are not having fun.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
You can be all you want to be, even if the odds are against you. For it is in the darkest hours that the smallest light shines the brightest.
Deon Potgieter
A soldier is a killer painted hero.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
To a man with an internet connection, every thought and every movement sounds like a tweet or status update.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
We sometimes take photos (or record a video) so that we can later see what was happening while we were busy taking photos (or recording a video).
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Shame lurks in the pockets of the mind (or spirit), like lint. No matter how brave a face you put on things – and believe me, I did – you always have to face yourself in the end.
Beverly Rycroft
When you think of the amount of turnover and profit made by most companies in this country - and especially the big chains, it's a shame that they pay their employees minimum wage and no more than that. What that really says is: 'We're paying you minimum wage, because we're not allowed to pay you any less.
Christina Engela
Giving has no relation or companionship
Unarine Ramaru
The Dead Sea in the Middle East receives fresh water, but it has no outlet, so it doesn't pass the water out. It receives beautiful water from the rivers, and the water goes dank. I mean, it just goes bad. And that's why it is the Dead Sea. It receives and does not give. In the end generosity is the best way of becoming more, more, and more joyful.
Desmond Tutu
Life punishes those who have things in abundance by making them worry about petty things like: what to wear, or, which car to drive.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
You know a man is interesting when you forget to notice how expensive — or cheap — his clothes are.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
I am obsessed with not being obsessed with acquiring material things.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Most employees don’t really want to be highly-paid; they just want to earn more than their peers, and, more importantly, more than their neighbours.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Nothing humbles a rich man better than a poor man that isn’t willing to do ‘anything’ for money.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Don’t obsess over having the 'latest' version of a product. For there was a time that the previous version was the latest.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Those who say that money can’t buy one love make it sound as if love can buy one money.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Man would rather be loved for what he has, than be hated for what he lacks.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Small miracles happen every day, some people just don’t notice them.
Leila Summers
Well, I am something, Ma, you hissed, I am not nothing, I am somebody and I know what I want from life and I know what to do to get it. I will provide for myself.
Marlene Van Niekerk
What’s the difference?” I asked him. “Between the love of your life, and your soulmate?”“One is a choice, and one is not.” “There is a string that connects us that is not visible to the eye,” he said. “Maybe every person has more than one soul they are connected to, and all over the world there are these invisible strings.” As if to make his point, his finger traced a black ribbon that ran through my horse’s mane. “Maybe the chances that you’ll find each and every one of your soulmates is slim. But sometimes you’re lucky enough to stumble across one. And you feel a tug. And it’s not so much a choice to love them through their flaws and through your differences, but rather you love them without even trying. You love their flaws.
Tarryn Fisher
It's just that life felt the right size in there... not too big and not too small. Wasn't so hard to work up a bit of courage. It's got so bloody complicated since then.
Athol Fugard
Every bird of prey looks over its shoulder before it goes in for the kill, even a hawk. Even they know to watch their backs – every single one but an eagle. It’s fearless.
Michelle Horst
There is an economy in your mind
Nicky Verd
Tomorrow is like 'there.' Once you get 'there,' it is called 'here.' So, technically, life is a set of Todays.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
A push-up bra is to a woman’s chest … what 'breathing-in' is to a man’s stomach.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Reality is a hallucination shared by most sane men.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
To lose weight, spend time at the gym. To appear like you’ve lost weight, spend time with people who are bigger than you.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Twitter gives people an illusionary sense of leadership.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Facebook gives people an illusory sense of being LIKED.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
We can discover much about God by looking at nature. Take the Trinity for example. The Trinity is sort of like an apple. You've got the seeds, the flesh, and the skin. Three different things. Still, together they form one thing, an apple. And under no circumstances will one apple be three things, but the seeds, skin, and flesh will always be three things.
Alan de Jager
Father", that sounds too dominant, too stern or Mufasa-like – he’s a coward, a low-budget, hand-fucking coward.
Danielle Esplin
Like rain drops dripping on the floor like a thousand drumists beating those drums repeatedly,My blood runs through my veins ninety nine point nine metres per second when i think of you.
Nomthandazo Tsembeni
There are different churches because men wanted to interpret the Bible to their favour and which conflicts with the next person's interpretation. These led to people starting different churches, that ministers what they interpret as right.
Unarine Ramaru
If he had to wish, what would he wish for, he asked himself. What was there to wish for... a wish asked for the unattainable. The impossible.
Dalene Matthee
*Nothing is free* asserts two things. Both assertions are true.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
A paparazzi is merely an extremely nosy nobody with a camera—and bills to pay.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
The media made the masses to find not-so-skinny women appear not-so-beautiful … in the eyes of the remote holder.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
If I want religion, I know where to look for it - and if for example I don't want it, then why should it be forced on me in media and public spaces?
Christina Engela
You have to get up pretty early in the morning to invent the news.
Lauren Beukes
Dear Gris, if there's one thing I can't abide it's a bad poet.
Cat Hellisen
Raising a child whether yours or not, is being anointed by God to be the guardian of his Kingdom in a form of a child.
Unarine Ramaru
When you discipline a child you prepare them for a responsible and accountable adulthood.
Gugu Mona
If you constantly allow negative statements into your life, you run the risk of adopting such negative statements as your convictions and principles. Generally, you will have a pessimistic outlook towards life.
D.S Mashego
She laughs, and that's really all he wanted.
Lauren Beukes
You never think it’s going to happen to you, do you?
Sarah Lotz
Corrigan crept up to the bar, cautiously moving around it. It looked like he was copying all the moves he’d seen in old cop movies and westerns, and doing it rather badly. He lowered the pistol. There was no one behind the bar. There was however, an open trapdoor. And that would mean the bounty hunter was - .“Don’t move!” Came Beck’s distant, slightly muffled, barked order. “My turn, I think!
Christina Engela
You will have a peace of mind when you tell the truth and people think it's a lie, than we you tell a lie hoping that people will think it's the truth; because no matter how long it takes, either will be revealed.
Gugu Mona