Notable Quotes
I WOULD have brought in an extra chair and desk. – Charlotte Brockerhoff of Swakopmund, whose 14-year-old son Roberto cannot find a Grade 8 place at the coastal town
SPORT fans visiting South Africa have never needed stab vests. The marketing of stab vests is a joke. They will not and will never need them during the World Cup ... We think it’s abominable ... it’s not necessary. It’s a money-making exercise using scare tactics. – 2010 Local Organising Committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo reacting to news of British company Protektorvest selling stab-proof vest to football fans visiting SA for the World Cup
ARE they all really from South Africa, the ones who are saying that the tourists will be killed the minute they step off the plane (geez, I’m surprised that a plane can even land, because according to these guys, the runway lights should have been stolen!). – An entry by Jog5000 on the same forum
HOW can you expect us to weigh our visitors and deny them access to the vehicle if they’re overweight? That is discrimination. – Manager of the Aquila game reserve in the Western Cape, Desmond Lubbe, after traffic officers reportedly ordered two guests off the reserve’s vehicle, saying they were too fat and overloading it
IT is very unfortunate that we have a media in the country that glorifies and publicises criminal intentions. The patriotism of such media is suspect. – African National Congress spokesman Jackson Mthembu after e.tv broadcast an interview with two men threatening to rob tourists to the 2010 World Cup
SHE was a well-known pianist in the Welgeleegen flats. A day could not have passed by without her playing nice music from her piano. The murderer took her life away … now she is making beautiful and harmonious music in heaven. – Cape Town police spokesman Inspector Olebogeng Tawana, after 65-year-old Elfrieda Welch’s body was found in a suitcase under her bed in her Strand flat
THE media industry is going through tough times and it’s important we assess cost structures and one of those costs is from staff. – FinMedia24 chief executive Timothy Spira, after SA’s Naspers announced it was offering some editorial staff in its print business severance packages
ONLY the biggest creeps and boozers are walking around at those hours. – Amsterdam’s deputy mayor, Lodewijk Asscher, proposing new measures to help tackle forced prostitution, including restricting opening hours for brothels and raising the minimum age for prostitutes to 23 from 18.
ONE measure of friendship consists not in the number of things friends can discuss, but in the number of things they need no longer mention. – Clifton Fadiman (1938 – 1948), American radio host, author and editor
THE way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. – Dolly Parton (born 1946) American country singer and actress
CONSCIENCE is the nest where all good is hatched. – Welsh proverb
From the history books
YOU do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered. – Lyndon B. Johnson, Democratic US president 1963-69. He died on January 22, 1973
ARAB sovereignty in Jerusalem just cannot be. This city will not be divided – not half and half, not 60 – 40, not 75 – 25, nothing. – Israeli founder and prime minister Golda Meir (1898-1978). On January 23,1950 the Israeli Knesset resolved Jerusalem would be the capital of Israel
THE Adamsons gave us truths about the species that cannot be found in a biologist’s notebook. – George Schaler from the introduction of the 1987 version of the book ‘Born Free’ by Joy Adamson. On January 24, Elsa, the lioness made famous in ‘Born Free’ died in Kenya.