Actions Quotes

The majority of South Africans, black and white, recognize that apartheid has no future. It has to be ended by our own decisive mass action in order to build peace and security. The mass campaign of defiance and other actions of our organization and people can only culminate in the establishment of democracy.

Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.

We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.

As a leader, one must sometimes take actions that are unpopular, or whose results will not be known for years to come.

Long speeches, the shaking of fists, the banging of tables and strongly worded resolutions out of touch with the objective conditions do not bring about mass action and can do a great deal of harm to the organisation and the struggle we serve.

Do not look the other way; do not hesitate. Recognize that the world is hungry for action, not words. Act with courage and vision.

Let us travel it together. Let us, by our joint actions, vindicate the purposes for which this Organization was established and create a situation wherein its Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will become part of the body of law on which will be based the political and social order of a new South Africa. Our common victory is assured.

We need a fundamental change of mindset with regards to the way we speak and behave about sex and sexuality. Boys and men have a particularly critical role in this regard, changing the chauvinist and demeaning ways sexuality and women were traditionally dealt with in both our actions and speaking.

I hope that our movement will always hold that commitment to non-racialism dear in its thoughts, policies and actions. It is that commitment, even in circumstances wherewe could have been pardoned for deviating from it, that amongst other things earned us the respect of the world.

You can't stop a bird from landing on your head. But you can keep it from building a nest.

In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery?

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.

Whatever we do, we must keep God in the forefront. Let us be Christian in all of our actions.

The only guide to a man's conscience, the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions.

How little can we foresee the consequences either of wise or unwise action, of virtue or of malice. Without this measureless and perpetual uncertainty, the drama of human life would be destroyed.

The stern compression of circumstances, the twinges of adversity, the spur of slights and taunts in early years, are needed to evoke that ruthless fixity of purpose and tenacious wit without which great actions are seldom accomplished.

Things do not get better by being let alone. Unless they are adjusted, they explode with shattering detonation.

So we have had to dispense with the indispensable.

After all, a man's Life must be nailed to a cross either of Thought or Action.

I no longer listen to what people say, I just watch what they do. Behavior never lies.