Helen Suzman Quotes

My own electorate, which I represented for 36 years as an anti-apartheid politician, had a considerable number of Jewish voters supporting me throughout my career.

I stand for simple justice, equal opportunity and human rights. The indispensable elements in a democratic society - and well worth fighting for.

I can say unequivocally that the boycott does not work. It's never complete enough to have impact unless it's backed by force, and I don't think anybody in America seriously proposes that.

I am provocative, and I admit this. It isn't as if I'm only on the receiving end, a poor, frail little creature. I can be thoroughly nasty when I get going, and I don't pull my punches.

The immediate present belongs to the extremists, but the future belongs to the moderates.

When you teach, you learn." "And I really don't go for religions of any kind. ...I reject them all....There were principles I thought were very important.

All these stories are grist to the mill of the government because they build up a very useful war psychosis.

It is not my questions that embarrass South Africa – it is your answers.

It is the answers, not the questions, that are embarrassing.

When you teach, you learn.

Debate is almost non-existent and no one is apparently accountable to anybody apart from their political party bosses. It is bad news for democracy in this country.

[To the South African parliament:] I do not know why we equate - and with the examples before us - a white skin with civilization.

I used to be a fan of proportional representation, but I am not at all now I have seen it in action.

The employment laws are completely unrealistic. You cannot overcome that in only 10 years. It will take at least another generation before young people are properly qualified.

Perhaps the one comforting thought I got out of this whole disgusting affair was that over the years when the government was tapping my telephone, it must certainly have heard some home truths from me about themselves, often couched in good Anglo-Saxon terms.

It is increasingly hard for young white people to find jobs, and I can understand why white parents are worried about the future.

This country is armed to the teeth, and none of these African states could begin to attack South Africa.

Sometimes I manage to get conditions alleviated, often not.