Janet Suzman Quotes

I was there during the first elections in South Africa. I watched them take down the apartheid flag and raise the new flag.

All of my life had been spent in the shadow of apartheid. And when South Africa went through its extraordinary change in 1994, it was like having spent a lifetime in a boxing ring with an opponent and suddenly finding yourself in that boxing ring with nobody else and realising you've to take the gloves off and get out, and reinvent yourself.

Come look at the television. Nelson Mandela is being released from prison in South Africa. This is the most important event in your lifetime.

For you in the West to hear the phrase 'All men are created equal' is to draw a yawn. For us, it's a miracle. We're starting out at rock bottom, man. But South Africa does have soul.

When Nelson Mandela walked free, the world sang with joy. Ever since, South Africa has stood as a beacon of hope for Africa.

I think of moving as a kind of saving grace.

We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.

There is always room for understanding towards those who see the old ways crumbling. And today I say simply this: It must come. It is right that it should come. And when it does, you will find that a burden has been lifted from your shoulders too.

No successful political transition can take place without leaders and movements that demand and press for freedom.

The victory of democracy in South Africa is the common achievement of all humanity.

Transformation, liberation and celebration are the themes of all my novels.

The suffering of the Bahamian people is nearly ended. A new day is coming. It is almost here.

I am happy that Poland is returning to the road of pluralism and democracy.

I left Russia in 1993 optimistic that democracy had taken hold despite the obstacles.

Freedom must be gained step by step, slowly. Freedom is a food which must be carefully administered when people are too hungry for it.

Getting rid of the dictator is only a first step in establishing a free society. The dictatorship must also be disassembled.

You don't have to fight for your life anymore. You're starting a new one.

Each generation must recreate liberty for its own times.

Mexico has experimented with political change since the late 1980s.

Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let a bloody peace be written in the sky. Let a second generation full of courage issue forth; let a people loving freedom come to growth.

It was an honour for me to have been able to work with Mr. Mandela in the process that led to the adoption of the interim constitution and our first democratic elections in April 1994.

Democracy is the road to socialism.

Every renaissance comes to the world with a cry, the cry of the human spirit to be free.

Well, I think by any expectation South Africa has come a tremendously long way. We've seen a society that many people thought couldn't withstand a peaceful transition to democracy without a great deal of violence, in fact, make that transition and do it in relative peace and security.

Of course, I grew up in Communist Romania, but I am happy to say that now our country is democratic, and prospering, since the revolution in 1989.