It is not "forgive and forget" as if nothing wrong had ever happened, but "forgive and go forward," building on the mistakes of the past and the energy generated by reconciliation to create a new future.

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.

Sorrow is better than fear. Fear is a journey, a terrible journey. But, sorrow is at least an arriving.

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.

If you wrote a novel in South Africa which didn't concern the central issues, it wouldn't be worth publishing.

We do not work for men. We work for the land and the people. We do not even work for money.

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