Alan Paton
Alan Paton
Alan Stewart Patonwas a South African author and anti-apartheid activist...
NationalitySouth African
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth11 January 1903
taught expect-nothing endeavor
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. She taught me to seek sustenance from the endeavor itself, but to leave the result to God.
earth enough johannesburg
Nosecond Johannesburg isneededuponthe earth.One is enough.
touched
Something deep is touched here, something that is good and deep.
country hate heart
I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they are turned to loving, they will find that we are turned to hating.
home sleep past
There is a man sleeping in the grass. And over him is gathering the greatest storm of all his days. Such lightening and thunder will come there has never been seen before, bringing death and destruction. People hurry home past him, to places safe from danger. And whether they do not see him there in the grass, or whether they fear to halt even a moment, but they do not wake him, they let him be.
beautiful fighting land
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. (Ah, But Your Land Is Beautiful)
pain kindness suffering
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.
goes-on cry-the-beloved-country destroying
It is not permissible for us to go on destroying the family life when we know that we are destroying it.
broken tragedy cry-the-beloved-country
The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that things are not mended again.
issues novel concern
If you wrote a novel in South Africa which didn't concern the central issues, it wouldn't be worth publishing.
men land people
We do not work for men. We work for the land and the people. We do not even work for money.
standards asks ifs
Ask yourself not if this or that is expedient, but if it is right.
dream children men
For mines are for men, not for money. And money is not something to go mad about, and throw your hat into the air for. Money is for food and clothes and comfort, and a visit to the pictures. Money is to make happy the lives of children. Money is for security, and for dreams, and for hopes, and for purposes. Money is for buying the fruits of the earth, of the land where you were born.
heart
For who can stop the heart from breaking?