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.
Interpretation
Life is fleeting, and one requires guidance that is truthful and unwavering for the journey ahead.
In this quote, Alan Paton emphasizes the transient nature of life, suggesting that as it passes quickly, it's essential to seek a guiding principle or belief that remains steadfast. The imagery of a star and a compass signifies the need for reliable direction and truthfulness in one's life choices and experiences, implying that such guidance is crucial for navigating the complexities of existence.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a graduation speech to inspire graduates as they begin their life journeys.
Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that's the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing. Nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him if he gives too much.
Ask yourself not if this or that is expedient, but if it is right.
One day in Johannesburg, and already the tribe was being rebuilt, the house and soul being restored.
What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? What broke when he could bring himself to thrust down the knife into the warm flesh, to bring down the axe on the living head, to cleave down between the seeing eyes, to shoot the gun that would drive death into the beating heart?
It is not permissible to add to one's possesions if these things can only be done at the cost of other men. Such development has only one true name, and that is exploitation.
If you wrote a novel in South Africa which didn't concern the central issues, it wouldn't be worth publishing.
The men in this book are fictitious characters but their counterparts can be found in cockpits all over the world. Now they are flying a war. Tomorrow they will be flying a peace, for, regardless of the world's condition, flying is their life.
One of the best things about life—a reason not to go blindly after one goal and one goal only—is that sometimes it will take you to something that is way cooler than anything you would have consciously set out to do in the first place.
After it's all over, the early childhood, a chain of birthdays woven with candlelight, piles of presents, voices of relatives singing and praising your promise and future, after the years of schooling, fitting yourself into different size desks, memorizing, reciting, reporting, and performing for jury after jury of teachers, counselors, and administrators, you still feel inadequate, alone, vulnerable, and naked in a world that can be unforgiving and terribly demanding.
I've been fat since I was seven, and being fat sets you apart.
Life is rather like a tin of sardines - we're all of us looking for the key.
If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.
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