P. W. Botha Quotes

#1. The idea of an Afrikaner people as a cultural entity and religious group with a special language will be retained in South Africa as long as civilisation stands.

P. W. Botha

#2. The people who are opposing the policy of apartheid have not the courage of their convictions. They do not marry non-Europeans.

P. W. Botha

#3. I never have the nagging doubt of wondering whether perhaps I am wrong.

P. W. Botha

#4. I am sick and tired of the hollow parrot-cry of "Apartheid!" I've said many times that the word "Apartheid" means good neighbourliness.

P. W. Botha

#5. The free world wants to feed South Africa to the Red Crocodile [communism], to appease its hunger.

P. W. Botha

#6. You could not claim for yourself that which you were not prepared to grant others.

P. W. Botha

#7. Nelson Mandela can rot in prison until he dies or I die, whichever takes longer.

P. W. Botha

#8. I want to warn young people who lend their ears to radicals and who play around with the music from Lusaka - they will end up inside the bear's fur coat, but they will no longer be able to live.

P. W. Botha

#9. I am not against the provision of the necessary medical assistance to Coloured and natives, because, unless they receive that medical aid, they become a source of danger to the European community.

P. W. Botha

#10. The security and happiness of all minority groups in South Africa depend on the Afrikaner. Whether they are English- or German- or Portuguese- or Italian-speaking, or even Jewish-speaking, makes no difference.

P. W. Botha

#11. We do not want chaos in South Africa.

P. W. Botha

#12. The acceptance of vertical differentiation with the built-in principle of self-determination must apply on as many levels as possible.

P. W. Botha

#13. Our history is responsible for the differences in the South African way of life.

P. W. Botha

#14. There is only one element that can break the Afrikaner, and that is the Afrikaner himself. It is when the Afrikaner, like a baboonshot in the stomach, pulls out his own intestines. We must guard against that.

P. W. Botha

#15. Most blacks are happy, except those who have had other ideas pushed into their ears.

P. W. Botha

#16. South Africa is not a jellyfish and is in many respects a swordfish.

P. W. Botha