Alan Paton
Alan Paton
Alan Stewart Patonwas a South African author and anti-apartheid activist...
NationalitySouth African
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth11 January 1903
dawn cry-the-beloved-country failing
For it is the dawn that has come, as it has come for a thousand centuries, never failing.
st-francis-of-assisi use taught
St. Francis of Assisi taught me that there is a wound in the Creation and that the greatest use we could make of our lives was to ask to be made a healer of it.
house soul one-day
One day in Johannesburg, and already the tribe was being rebuilt, the house and soul being restored.
Although nothing has come yet, something is here already.
names rivers cry-the-beloved-country
Now God be thanked that the name of a hill is such music, that the name of a river can heal.
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.
men names add
It is not permissible to add to one's possesions if these things can only be done at the cost of other men. Such development has only one true name, and that is exploitation.
journey men house
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.
secret dawn cry-the-beloved-country
But when the dawn will come, of our emancipation, from the fear of bondage and the bondage of fear, why, that is a secret.
love men one-thing
But the one thing that has power completely is love, because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power.
law justice judging
The Judge does not make the law. It is people that make the law. Therefore if a law is unjust, and if the Judge judges according to the law, that is justice, even if it is not just.
country children giving
Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply... For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.
fall dark white
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
life wise struggle
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.