Perhaps life had a meaning that transcended race and colour. If it had, I could not find it in South Africa. Peter Abrahams More Quotes by Peter Abrahams More Quotes From Peter Abrahams You can't walk alone. Many have given the illusion, but none have really walked alone. Man is not made that way. Each man is bedded in his people, their history, their culture, and their values. Peter Abrahams alone-man men people To get from people you had to give a piece of yourself, a real piece that mattered. Just being nice was not enough. Peter Abrahams nice real people To live with the conscious knowledge of the shadow of uncertainty, with the knowledge that disaster or tragedy could strike at any time; to be afraid and to know and acknowledge your fear, and still to live creatively and with unstinting love: that is to live with grace. Peter Abrahams tragedy grace inspiring The words dripped on my consciousness, sank into my being, and carried me away to the magic long ago of once upon a time. Peter Abrahams long-ago magic time You don't have to be a good person to be a good writer--history shows it's better if you're not--but you have to understand your badness. Peter Abrahams badness good-person shows Many have changed so much that they have lost the magic of the dream that carried them on their own bootstraps. Peter Abrahams lost-friendship magic dream To get where you want to go, you can't only do what you like. Peter Abrahams want They say life is all about connecting, like that's a good thing. But when brain and eyes are lining up you know different. Peter Abrahams different eye brain Mom had the kind of love for her that you could feel, like it was part of the atmosphere Peter Abrahams atmosphere mom mother With Shakespeare and poetry, a new world was born. New dreams, new desires, a self consciousness was born. I desired to know to know myself in terms of the new standards set by these books. Peter Abrahams self dream book What do you get out of hating people, out of having this bitterness in your heart always? Peter Abrahams hate heart people The only places where I have found that simple human dignity, that respect for the other man, and the gracious feel of tolerance and humanity have not been either among the heroes of the class-struggle or the 'thinking men' but among my simple 'backward' people. Peter Abrahams man respect simple men A man can submit today in order to resist tomorrow. My submission had been such. And because I had not been free to show my real feeling, to voice my true thoughts, my submission had bred bitterness and anger. And there were nearly ten million others who had submitted with equal anger and bitterness. Peter Abrahams thoughts man anger today Must simplicity and humanity go under in the interest of progress? What is the most important component of civilization - is it human or mechanical? Must thought processes become involved and insincere? Must the class-struggle warp those who are involved in it? Peter Abrahams thought progress simplicity humanity Joseph and his mother come from the black kings who were before the white man. Peter Abrahams man black mother white My mother was a member of the Cape Coloured community. 'Coloured' is the South African word for the half-caste community that was a by-product of the early contact between black and white. Peter Abrahams black-and-white black mother white I attended school regularly for three years. I learned to read and write. 'Lamb's Tales' from Shakespeare was my favourite reading matter. I stole, by finding, Palgrave's 'Golden Treasury.' These two books, and the 'Everyman' edition of John Keats, were my proudest and dearest possessions, my greatest wealth. Peter Abrahams wealth reading matter school The familiar mood that awaits the sensitive young who are poor and dispossessed is a mood of sharp and painful inferiority, of violently angry tensions, of desperate and overwhelming longings. Peter Abrahams angry mood poor painful For me, personally, life in South Africa had come to an end. I had been lucky in some of the whites I had met. Meeting them had made a straight 'all-blacks-are-good, all-whites-are-bad' attitude impossible. But I had reached a point where the gestures of even my friends among the whites were suspect, so I had to go or be forever lost. Peter Abrahams me friends attitude life In the Caribbean islands, especially in Jamaica, have I found a country similar to South Africa plus the racial freedom I had sought so long. Peter Abrahams africa freedom long country
