In South Africa, I feel I am a stranger, at best an animal.
Oliver TamboRead
How do you deal with a criminal that will not listen to what you have to say and who continues his policy of violence? Some say you continue to talk and let him tire himself out. But nearly 40 years after the institution of apartheid, is there anyone who still believes that verbal persuasion will work?
Interpretation
The quote questions the effectiveness of dialogue with those who refuse to listen and resort to violence.
Oliver Tambo's quote reflects on the futility of communication with individuals entrenched in violent ideologies, especially in the context of apartheid. It suggests that after decades of unsuccessful dialogue, there is skepticism about the potential for peaceful persuasion to change the minds of those who are resolute in their violent ways.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about conflict resolution in global politics.
In South Africa, I feel I am a stranger, at best an animal.
The more pressure you bring from without, the less internal pressure is necessary.
The sanctions will not kill us. It's apartheid that's killing us.
The U.S. is the last country that should see itself as an ally of the apartheid system.
It was of limited usefulness to head great rallies. The government did not listen, and, soon enough, the tear gas and the muzzles of the guns were turned against the people. The justice of our cries went unrecognized.
It was becoming clear that, from being at the top at Holy Cross, we were at the bottom at St. Peter's. Objectively, this was very good, for it offered us a challenge and an opportunity to grow if we were ready to take it; and we surely were.
Thus passing through the infinite varieties of space we reach the Divine space which is absolutely free from all dimensions and constitutes the meeting point of all infinities.
Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Philosophers say the Soul is double-faced, her upper face gazes at God all the time and her lower face looks somewhat down, informing the senses; and the upper face, which is the summit of the soul, is in eternity and has nothing to do with time: it knows nothing of time or of body.
The hero is strangely akin to those who die young.
It was the first time that I came face to face with madness and feared it and was fascinated by it.
She had dreamed some brilliant dreams during the past winter and now they lay in the dust around her. In her present mood of self-disgust, she could not immediately begin dreaming again. And she discovered that, while solitude with dreams is glorious, solitude without them has few charms.
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