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It was not his habit to dwell on what could have been, but what could never be.

Alan Paton

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Alan Paton
Age: 85 †
Born: 1903
Born: January 11
Died: 1988
Died: April 12
Author
Autobiographer
Politician
Screenwriter
Writer
Alan Patton
Alan Stewart Paton
Alen Peṭon
Dwell
Habit
Never

More quotes by Alan Paton

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I have never thought that a Christian would be free of suffering, umfundisi. For our Lord suffered. And I come to believe that he suffered, not to save us from suffering, but to teach us how to bear suffering. For he knew that there is no life without suffering.
Alan Paton
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But perhaps when you were too obedient, and did not do openly what others did, and were quiet in church and hard-working at school, then some unknown rebellion brewed in you, doing harm to you, though how I do not understand.
Alan Paton
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There are voices crying what must be done, a hundred, a thousand voices. But what do they help if one seeks for counsel, for one cries this, and one cries that, and another cries something that is neither this nor that.
Alan Paton
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The truth is, our civilization is not Christian it is a tragic compound of great ideal and fearful practice, of loving charity and fearful clutching of possessions.
Alan Paton
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But sorrow is better than fear. For fear impoverishes always, while sorrow may enrich.
Alan Paton
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But when the dawn will come, of our emancipation, from the fear of bondage and the bondage of fear, why, that is a secret.
Alan Paton
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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)
Alan Paton
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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
Alan Paton
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When men are ruled by fear, they strive to prevent the very changes that will abate it.
Alan Paton
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because life slips away, and because I need for the rest of my journey a star that will not play false to me, a compass that will not lie.
Alan Paton
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Nothing is ever quiet, except for fools.
Alan Paton
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The Afrikaner has nowhere to go, and thats why he would rather destroy himself than capitulate.
Alan Paton
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It is my belief that the only power which can resist the power of fear is the power of love.
Alan Paton
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There is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills.
Alan Paton
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I have always found that actively loving saves one from a morbid preoccupation with the shortcomings of society.
Alan Paton
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There is only one way in which one can endure man's inhumanity to man and that is to try, in one's own life, to exemplify man's humanity to man.
Alan Paton
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One day in Johannesburg, and already the tribe was being rebuilt, the house and soul being restored.
Alan Paton
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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.
Alan Paton
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It is not permissible for us to go on destroying the family life when we know that we are destroying it.
Alan Paton
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Let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong, nor afraid to defend the poor because of the anger of the rich.
Alan Paton