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.
Interpretation
Obedience can sometimes stifle personal expression and lead to inner conflict.
In this quote, Alan Paton reflects on the consequences of extreme obedience and conformity. While being diligent and respectful in environments like school and church is often valued, the quote suggests that suppressing one's true feelings and desires can ferment internal rebellion, causing harm and confusion to the individual. The tension between societal expectations and personal authenticity is highlighted, emphasizing the need for balance.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about educational environments and the importance of self-expression.
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.
Be kind to people on the way up - you'll meet them again on your way down.
Fas est ab hoste doceri._x000D_ One should learn even from one's enemies.
The main cause of poverty or financial struggle is fear and ignorance, not the economy or the government or the rich.
Only after we can learn to forgive ourselves can we accept others as they are because we don't feel threatened by anything about them which is better than us.
Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the world calls illusions.
Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him. He has faculties silently inviting him thither to endless exertion. He is like a ship in the river; he runs against obstructions on every side but one; on that side all obstruction is taken away, and he sweeps serenely over a deepening channel into an infinite sea.
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