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Apartheid Quotes

Lines on a divided nation, and the will to outlast it.

This collection draws on real reflections about apartheid's grip on South Africa, from the personal resolve to survive it to blunt calls for accountability once it ended. A few entries also touch on how the term has been controversially stretched to describe other conflicts. See related history in Africa quotes.

Apartheid was in South Africa; now it has been transferred to Palestine.

Quotes by Yahya Jammeh

Arab society features apartheid of women, apartheid of homosexuals, and apartheid of Christians, Jews, and democracy.

Quotes by Yair Lapid

It dawned on me then that you either had to survive apartheid, or you had to perish with it. And I decided to survive.

Quotes by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

We should have sent the apartheid monsters to jail, not let them off with an amnesty.

Quotes by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

Africa Quotes

Mbeki began to write a study of the workings of apartheid policy in the reserves - the areas set aside in law for African occupation - as early as 1959 and 1960.

Quotes by Ruth First

People don't know that there were very successful black businessmen in the years of apartheid.

Quotes by Patrice Motsepe

It may be that apartheid brings such stupendous economic advantages to countries that they would sooner have apartheid than permit its destruction.

Quotes by Oliver Tambo

The U.S. is the last country that should see itself as an ally of the apartheid system.

Quotes by Oliver Tambo

Apartheid either is or is not. And it must not be.

Quotes by Oliver Tambo

Attitude Quotes

The violence associated with the A.N.C. is minimal, infinitesimal next to the violence of the apartheid regime.

Quotes by Oliver Tambo

If apartheid is removed, then the violence that is necessary to maintain it will be removed along with the pressures from apartheid which create a violent response.

Quotes by Oliver Tambo

The apartheid system renounces no violence.

Quotes by Oliver Tambo

Apartheid is inherently a practice of violence.

Quotes by Oliver Tambo

The sanctions will not kill us. It's apartheid that's killing us.

Quotes by Oliver Tambo

Because Quotes

I spent 51 years under apartheid. I don't imagine suffering. I know it.

Quotes by John Kani

Abhorrence of apartheid is a moral attitude, not a policy.

Quotes by Edward Heath

I have been to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under the racist system of Apartheid.

Quotes by Desmond Tutu

Apartheid was baked hard in the mining industry because that's where it originated.

Quotes by Cyril Ramaphosa

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this apartheid quotes page about?
It collects quotes reflecting on the apartheid system that governed South Africa, including firsthand resolve to survive it and later calls to hold its enforcers accountable. A few quotes also note how the word has been applied, sometimes controversially, to other regions.
Why do people search for quotes about apartheid?
Readers often look for language that captures both the historical weight of institutionalized racial division and the personal courage it took to endure it. These quotes are useful for essays, discussions, and history-related writing.
Does this page take a position on how the term apartheid is used today?
No. It presents the quotes as they were said, including ones where the term is extended to other conflicts, without endorsing any side. The bulk of the collection is grounded in South Africa's documented history and survivor accounts.
What kind of survival story is included here?
One quote comes from someone describing the stark choice apartheid forced on them: survive it or perish with it. That personal account sits alongside broader historical and political reflections.
What else can I read alongside these apartheid quotes?
Readers interested in these themes can also browse Attitude quotes for perspectives on facing hardship.

Read alongside, these quotes trace both a documented struggle and the arguments it still provokes decades later. Continue with our Attitude and Black quotes for more on resilience and identity.