“The saddest thing that befalls a soul is when it loses faith in god and woman.”

“We bury love; Forgetfulness grows over it like grass: That is a thing to weep for, not the dead.”

“If you take God out of it, then right and justice become small, human things. And weak things too.”

“We can't afford to be without God," Feliks continued. "Even if he doesn't exist, we have to hold on to him. Because if we don't, then how are we to convince ourselves that we have to go on with this fight? If you take God out of it, then right and justice become small, human things. And weak things, too.”

“Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni was not a lazy man, but it was remarkable to reflect how most men imagined that things like tea and food would simply appear if they waited long enough. There would always be a woman in the background--a mother, a girlfriend, a wife--who would ensure that those needs would be met.”

“When you allow people to do what they wish, then that is what they do. They stop doing the things they need to do.”

“He looked at her in the darkness, at this woman who was everything to him-mother, Africa, wisdom, understanding, good things to eat, pumpkins, chicken, the white sky across the endless, endless bush, and the giraffe that cried, giving its tears for women to daub on their baskets; O Botswana, my country, my place.”