Helen Suzman Quotes

#1. 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.

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

#3. 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.

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

#5. 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.

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

#7. 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.

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

#11. 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.

Helen Suzman

#12. 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.

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

#17. Sometimes I manage to get conditions alleviated, often not.

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

#19. 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.

Helen Suzman

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

Helen Suzman

#21. 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 ...

Helen Suzman

#22. 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.

Helen Suzman