“All roads lead to Johannesburg. If you are white or if you are black they lead to Johannesburg. If the crops fail, there is work in Johannesburg. If there are taxes to be paid, there is work in Johannesburg. If the farm is too small to be divided further, some must go to Johannesburg. If there is a child to be born that must be delivered in secret, it can be delivered in Johannesburg.”

“Don't raise your voice, improve your argument."[Address at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa, 23 November 2004]”

“If you go to Singapore or Amsterdam or Seoul or Buenos Aires or Islamabad or Johannesburg or Tampa or Istanbul or Kyoto, you'll find that the people differ wildly in the way they dress, in their marriage customs, in the holidays they observe, in their religious rituals, and so on, but they all expect the food to be under lock and key. It's all owned, and if you want some, you'll have to buy it.”

“Question and AnswerDurban, Birmingham,Cape Town, Alabama,Johannesburg, Watts,The earth aroundStruggling, fighting,Dying--for what?A world to gain.Groping, hoping,Waiting--for what?A world to gain.Dreams kicked asunder,Why not go under?There's a world to gain.But suppose I don't want it,Why take it?To remake it.”

“There is no goal, nowhere to get to, nothing to achieve.All that you seek, no matter how great or small, is merely entertainment, diversion, or exercise along the way. It is of no consequence. Yet you must do it. That is the secret. You must do your work, you must help others, you must grow your plants, and you must write.You must do all those things, and yet those things will lead you no place that you are not right now.”

“But one must go where one's road leads, even when it's a distressing road.”