“Why is this century worse than those others?
Maybe, because, in sadness and alarm,
It only touched the blackest of the ulcers,
But couldn't heal it in its span of time.”

“Maybe he is the Mark Twain of the late twentieth century. Time will sort the bastard out and I leave it to others more qualified than me to assess and appraise his monumental literary legacy.”

“It is not because I am better or worse than others, but because I understand all beings are equal.”

“Through centuries of centuries, fire and water face each other; the fire, upright, buoyant and leaping; the water flat, creeping, gliding, widening its lines and its surface. When they touch, is it the water which hisses and roars, or is it the fire?”

“The names of those who were incarcerated on Robben Island is a roll call of resistance fighters and democrats spanning over three centuries. If indeed this is a Cape of Good Hope, that hope owes much to the spirit of that legion of fighters and others of their calibre.”

“Time heals all wounds. And if it doesn't, you name them something other than wounds and agree to let them stay.”

“there are two types of people in the world: those who prefer to be sad among others, and those who prefer to be sad alone.”

“It takes skill to be real. Time to heal each other”

“We only become beasts—we become worse than beasts—when we torment others.”

“Maybe if everyone walked around being in touch with each other's hidden pain it could work out and even be beautiful, but it doesn't feel safe to be the only compassionate person on the planet.”