"In my veins courses the blood of the Malay slaves who came from the East. Their proud dignity informs my bearing, their culture a part of my essence. The stripes they bore on their bodies from the lash of the slave master are a reminder embossed on my consciousness of what should not be done."

"[From as early as 1979, P. W. Botha], in his capacity as president of apartheid South Africa, was the real architect of the secret talks that ultimately led to De Klerk’s historic announcement in February 1990. ... Nelson Mandela started the process of persuading [[w:Kobie_Coetzee|[Kobie] Coetsee]] that the time was ripe for the government to talk to the ANC, and that he was prepared to lead the initiative in prison even before consulting Lusaka. ... Botha’s response was to ... commence secret talks with the ANC to explore possible negotiations with the enemy. ... The South African conflict had reached a stalemate [with] no possibility of victory for either side. ... It was in this toxic environment that Mandela and Botha rose to the occasion, both without a mandate. Mandela defied the ANC and engaged the enemy without a mandate because he knew that the hawks in the ANC would have stopped his initiative. Botha [authorised secret talks] without informing his Cabinet because it was too risky to do so. ... White voters still viewed the ANC as terrorists controlled by Moscow in the context of the Cold War. Reports of Botha talking to the ANC would have sunk him as leader of the National Party and president of South Africa."

"Half a century ago in this court I was sworn in as the Member of Parliament for George. And here I am today … I am not better than General De Wet. I am not better than President Steyn. Like them I stand firm in my principles. I can do no different. So help me God."

"The idea of an Afrikaner people as a cultural entity and religious group with a special language will be retained in South Africa as long as civilisation stands."

"I never have the nagging doubt of wondering whether perhaps I am wrong."

"I am sick and tired of the hollow parrot-cry of “Apartheid!” I’ve said many times that the word “Apartheid” means good neighbourliness."

"Because you could not translate the word apartheid into the more universal language of English, the wrong connotation was given to it."

"I am not against the provision of the necessary medical assistance to Coloured and natives, because, unless they receive that medical aid, they become a source of danger to the European community."

"The white people who came here lived at a very much higher standard than the indigenous peoples, and with a very rich tradition which they brought with them from Europe."

"Most blacks are happy, except those who have had other ideas pushed into their ears."

"Never in the history of this country have so few people done so much for so many without acknowledgement by the international community."

"The free world wants to feed South Africa to the Red Crocodile [communism], to appease its hunger."

"Unfortunately [South Africa] has been badly repaid for her loyalty because the West has expelled her from the family circle while befriending the most dictatorial regimes on Earth."

"Knowing [Mandela] will start up with violence again, I, as a responsible head of state, must release him so that he can carry on with his violence, and then arrest him? What a nonsensical argument."

"Nelson Mandela can rot in prison until he dies or I die, whichever takes longer."

"Our history is responsible for the differences in the South African way of life."

"President P.W. Botha’s notorious “Rubicon” speech on 15 August 1985 at the National Party Congress in Durban was probably one of the most significant speeches in the history of South Africa. It was supposed to break the political and military deadlock between the apartheid government and the banned liberation movements, notably the ANC. Botha was widely expected to announce new policies that could possibly have ended the political conflict in the country. However, that did not happen. Instead the speech was a total fiasco. ...the South African government and P.W. Botha were not ready for such policy breakthrough announcements and had never planned to make them."

"The Republic of South Africa has a new formula under the National Party's leadership: black nations can get freedom without firing shots or revolution."

"We do not want chaos in South Africa."

"We do not force people to move to new homes, we coerce them. [Some believe he meant to say "convince"]"

"The acceptance of vertical differentiation with the built-in principle of self-determination must apply on as many levels as possible."

"Adapt or die."

"The security and happiness of all minority groups in South Africa depend on the Afrikaner. Whether they are English- or German- or Portuguese- or Italian-speaking, or even Jewish-speaking, makes no difference."

"The separation of races happened long before the Nationalist Government. God separated the races."

"The fact is that the Westminster system has not worked anywhere in Africa – not even in England because the Scots and Welsh are moving away from it."

"You could not claim for yourself that which you were not prepared to grant others."

"... I am not prepared to build the type of wall you built in Berlin. In South Africa we only build walls for houses."

"I am one of those who believe that there is no permanent home for even a section of the Bantu in the white area of South Africa and the destiny of South Africa depends on this essential point. If the principle of permanent residence for the black man in the area of the white is accepted then it is the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it in this country."

"It's a psychological onslaught, an economic one, a diplomatic one, a military onslaught – a total onslaught."

"The Cubans are not in Africa out of love."

"The United States needs a man at the helm who knows some psychology, who would know that you can't try to dictate to a people from abroad without stiffening their resistance."

"Many refugees – White, Brown and Black – flee to South Africa. Why? Here they know they have safety."

"Where in the whole wide world today can you find a more just society than South Africa has?"

"Accept where I am going or I will not lead you."

"I hate no black man. I hate no brown man. The same God that made me put them there too. My God is not only for Afrikaners."

"Mandela has overstepped the mark. He has broken the law. The judiciary of this country has put him where he belongs according to the rules of democracy."

"We do not know what tomorrow will bring. We are not prophets. This is a step in the dark. We can only proceed into the future with faith."

"We are a strong country in a rather sick world. … Our problems are not so much racial as radicals wish to make them."

"I have come to the realisation and conviction that the struggle in South Africa is not between White, Black and Brown, but between Christian civilized standards and the powers of chaos."

"We dare not see ourselves as a chosen people. We are called people - called to a particular task, just as every nation is a called people."

"There is only one element that can break the Afrikaner … and that is the Afrikaner himself."

"I believe we are today crossing the Rubicon, Mr Chairman. In South Africa there can be no turning back. I have a manifesto for the future of our country and we must engage in positive action in the months and years that lie ahead."

"Lord Milner had, in the forced Peace of Vereeniging ensured that there was to be no franchise for black people after the introduction of self-government – which was never intended. It was only after half a century that an Afrikaner government started doing something about black rights."

"South Africa is not a jellyfish and is in many respects a swordfish."

"Our enemies latched unto the word "apartheid" and in a very sly manner transformed it into the strongest weapon in the onslaught against freedom and civilization in our country."

"I want to warn young people who lend their ears to radicals and who play around with the music from Lusaka - they will end up inside the bear's fur coat, but they will no longer be able to live."

"No Prime Minister before me has been attacked more viciously than I am today."

"I feel more welcome among the black communities than I do among Coloureds"

"No more mine-laying. No more murder. No more abduction of women and children. No more attacks on headmen. No more raids across the border. So long as these conditions do not exist there will be no withdrawal [from South-West Africa] of South African troops."