Notable Quotes

WE as a family are content with the polygamous nature of our household. We are content to have twenty siblings or more. It is my father’s right within the context of his culture to have as many children as he wishes. – One of President Jacob Zuma’s sons, Duduzane, in a statement

ALL these AIDS campaigns tell us … to have one partner, but our president has five. – Phemelo Mmitsinyane, an 18-year-old University of Johannesburg student, quoted by the Associated PressNO culture, polygamous or otherwise, justifies cheating on your wives. – Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille in her weekly newsletter, dismissing Zuma’s attempts to place his love child in the context of Zulu cultureIF you pick up a vuvuzela and you start making a lot of noise, you have heard what has been the response from Europe. Our response is that no, you don’t have to worry, it’s not horns for war, it’s just horns of jubilation. These people are happy, they are in a jovial mood. And that’s why they are using these. It takes an African, a South African, to understand that. – Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa trying to dispel foreigners’ misconceptions about the plastic trumpetsHE (one of the robbers) explained (to the couple) that the rapist was a newcomer and normally they do not rape. – Police spokeswoman Captain Colette Weilbach after the wife of a gospel singer was raped in the couple’s Pretoria homeTHE woman never got her Coke back … It is rumoured that during the fracas, the Coke was emptied into another bottle. – Eastern Cape police spokeswoman Priscilla Naidu after six vagrants were arrested for snatching a cool drink from a woman in Uitenhage during a heatwaveMR Beuthin, you are a man of 44 years-old. You are big enough and ugly enough to know better. You should have learnt your lesson a long time ago. – Judge Kathy Satchwell, quoted in The Star, ruling on a plea agreement notorious bouncer Gary Beuthin made with the stateAT that stage I owned a Toyota 1300. The guys with the big cars were café owners and we eventually found a big Cressida which we decided to use. – Trevor Manuel, remembering the hectic arrangements around the release of Nelson Mandela 20 years agoWHAT is philosophy but a continual battle against custom? – Thomas Carlyle (1795 – 1881), Scottish historian and essayistPROPAGANDA is a soft weapon; hold it in your hands too long, and it will move about like a snake, and strike the other way. – Jean Anouilh (1910 – 1987), French playwright I HAVE one share in corporate Earth, and I am nervous about the management. – EB White (1899 – 1985) was an American writer and long-time contributor to ‘The New Yorker’ magazineONE of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the great struggle for independence. – Charles A. Beard (1874-1948), American historian From the history booksYOU’RE much more likely to be attacked by lightning or by your own toilet than you are by a shark. – Peter Benchley, American author of the bestseller ‘Jaws,’ which was the basis for the blockbuster movie that terrified beach goers. He died on February 12, 2006YOU cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself. – Italian philosopher, astronomer and mathematician Galileo Galilei. On February 13 1633, he arrived in Rome to face charges of heresy for advocating Copernican theory, which holds that the Earth revolves around the Sun. YOU can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone. – American gangster Al Capone. On February 14, 1929 seven of Capone’s gangster rivals were murdered in Chicago when Jack ‘Machine Gun’ McGurn ordered the killing of rival George ‘Bugs’ Moran in what has become known as the St Valentine’s Day Massacre