Botha Quotes

#1. I try getting in front of as many opportunities as possible, but in the late '90s, I had no idea that I'd end up being CFO of a technology company. I'd no idea what venture capital was.

Roelof Botha

#2. 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

#3. 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

#4. 1. If something is worthwhile doing - do it well. Don't waste your and other's time.
2. Life is brief - never postpone forgiveness when in your power - it may set you free.

Danie Botha

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

P. W. Botha

#6. You don't want to be the site that people should use. You want to be the site they can't stop using.

Roelof Botha

#7. I don't understand what's wrong with being whoever I want to be, especially when it feels truer sometimes than who people think I actually am.

Danila Botha

#8. Israel has incredible entrepreneurial spirit and a deep bench of technology talent.

Roelof Botha

#9. 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

#10. There's something electric about someone believing you're the real deal.

Danila Botha

#11. It's important to choose initial investors who are not twitchy and rushing for an exit. Wall Street's quarter-by-quarter lens may make the CEO make sub-optimal long-term decisions.

Roelof Botha

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

P. W. Botha

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

P. W. Botha

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

P. W. Botha

#15. At Sequoia, we have opened offices in China and India, and we have made a handful of investments in Latin America/Brazil.

Roelof Botha

#16. 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

#17. 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

#18. 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

#19. Money was invented for a reason. We've seen people try to use beans, etc. and it doesn't work.

Roelof Botha

#20. If you are in Mountain View, you don't resonate with the needs of urban dwellers. Tumblr couldn't have emerged in Sunnyvale.

Roelof Botha

#21. I am sure innovation will blossom around the world, given that the Internet and mobile platforms enable innovators anywhere in the world to reach a global market with ease.

Roelof Botha

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

P. W. Botha

#23. There's something about her, I remember thinking, a little mysterious.
I tried to absorb the feeling for as long as I could before I went back to work.
I tried not to think about it. Feelings throw everything off.

Danila Botha

#24. Founders should think of their company as a product and build it and shape it with the same passion and care.

Roelof Botha

#25. You have to put yourself in a position to be lucky.

Roelof Botha

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

P. W. Botha

#27. I love the grime, the real-life feel of things, the mix of dollar stores and libraries, high school students and prostitutes, little kids and dealers. What I like most about my Parkdale neighbourhood is that I can disappear.

Danila Botha

#28. I hate all the worry about what someone else is feeling, this crippling insecurity, this tightness in my chest.

Danila Botha

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

P. W. Botha

#30. 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

#31. What I've learned is, what people want is to tell someone, anyone, their problems.

Danila Botha

#32. The joy I'm feeling is too intense to express.I don't know what'll happen next month, or even next week. What I know is that we both want to try.

Danila Botha

#33. I think of myself as just another consumer.

Roelof Botha

#34. My predecessor, P. W. Botha, had an inner circle, and I did not like it. I preferred decisions to evolve out of cabinet discussions. That way, we achieved real co-ownership of our policies.

F. W. De Klerk

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

P. W. Botha

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

P. W. Botha