Helen Suzman Quotations

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

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

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.

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.

I don't think we will ever go the way of Zimbabwe, but people are concerned.

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 represent all the enlightened people in this country, and that's a fine thing to be able to do. It infuriates my opponents when I say this, but it is true.

Tool of Communist agitators... it's really a joke, isn't it? Because, quite clearly, we are a party of real moderates. It just shows how little they understand.

I am hopeful about any future for whites in this country, but not entirely optimistic.

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.

For all my criticisms of the current system, it doesn't mean that I would like to return to the old one.

That's my life in there. It would never be possible today to ask as many questions as I did.

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

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

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.

Sometimes I manage to get conditions alleviated, often not.

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

When you teach, you learn.

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

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.

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....

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

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