F. W. de Klerk: South

“Nigeria, it's a beautiful country with a great potential and I believe that in that part of the continent, Nigeria, once it sorts out its own problems, have a crucial role to play, like South Africa has in the more southern part of our continent.”

F. W. de Klerk

On The Washington Journal of C-SPAN https://www.c-span.org/video/?124979-1/the-trek-beginning (11 June 1999)
1990s, 1999

Beauty , Problem , Parting , Country

“History has placed a tremendous responsibility on the shoulders of this country's leadership, namely the responsibility of moving our country away from the current course of conflict and confrontation… The hope of millions of South Africans is fixed on us. The future of southern Africa depends on us. We dare not waver or fail.”

F. W. de Klerk

Speech to Parliament https://www.jstor.org/stable/27551769 (February 1990)
1990s, 1990

Hope , History , Future , Dependency

“I'm a Christian. I'm a South African. I'm an Afrikaner. I'm a lawyer. I love my country, and I think that this country has a great future. In that sense of the word, I`m a practical idealist.”

F. W. de Klerk

As quoted in "New S. African Leader`s Reforms Irk Left, Right" http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-01-01/news/9001010094_1_klerk-whites-only-zambian-president-kenneth-kaunda (1 January 1990), by Tom Masland, Chicago Tribune
1980s

Love , Thinking , Sense , Future

“There are a number of imperfections in the new South Africa where I would have hoped that things would be better, but on balance I think we have basically achieved what we set out to achieve. And if I were to draw balance sheets on where South Africa stands now, I would say that the positive outweighs the negative by far. There is a tendency by commentators across the world to focus on the few negatives which are quite negative, like how are we handling AIDS, like our role vis-à-vis Zimbabwe. But the positives – the stability in South Africa, the adherence to well-balanced economic policies, fighting inflation, doing all the right things in order to lay the basis and the foundation for sustained economic growth – are in place.”

F. W. de Klerk

Interview with Richard Stengel https://web.archive.org/web/20110622073025/http://www.cfr.org/southern-africa/hbo-history-makers-series-frederik-willem-de-klerk/p7114?breadcrumb=%2Fregion%2F151%2Fsouthern_africa (8 June 2004)
2000s, 2004

World , Hope , Thinking , Fight

“I prefer to live in South Africa because it's a wonderful country; because I've been there for 300 years.”

F. W. de Klerk

On The Washington Journal of C-SPAN https://www.c-span.org/video/?124979-1/the-trek-beginning (11 June 1999)
1990s, 1999

Country

“Yes, I'm an African, born and bred. My forebears arrived in South Africa in 1688. My later forebears fought the first modern anti-colonial war on the continent of Africa, against Great Britain. I'm an African, through and through, and the fact that I'm white does not detract from my total commitment to my country and through my country, to our continent.”

F. W. de Klerk

On The Washington Journal of C-SPAN https://www.c-span.org/video/?124979-1/the-trek-beginning (11 June 1999)
1990s, 1999

War , Country