Breyten Breytenbach Quotes

It pays to know the enemy - not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend.

Once in a while I can agree with the enemy.

Engagement is not appeasement. Engagement is not surrender.

Every nation sincerely desires peace; and all nations pursue courses which if persisted in, must make peace impossible.

It is always disarming to treat with the enemy, so to speak.

In the Mediterranean you have a choice. Either you fight or you cooperate.

Conciliation is the enemy.

He who cannot agree with his enemies is controlled by them.

Ultimately, peace depends on compromise.

Whoever said “Keep your enemies close” didn’t have many enemies.

Posturing is counterproductive. Posturing only works if things are screwed up.

If you're making enemies along the way, you're going to limit the ability for yourself to be successful in advancing your causes.

When human beings live together, conflict is inevitable. War is not.

Alliance does not mean love, any more than war means hate.

But you've got to understand what the other guy is about, even if at the end of the process you decide that there is no ground with this man or woman except to fight them.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

We extend our hand towards peace. Our people are committed to peace. We know that peace entails painful compromise for both sides.

Good wishes alone will not ensure peace.

If you aren't please tell me how you are going to not have a war.

Let us move from the era of confrontation to the era of negotiation.

The war... was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forebearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides.

A war can perhaps be won single-handedly. But peace - lasting peace - cannot be secured without the support of all.

Mankind will never win lasting peace so long as men use their full resources only in tasks of war. While we are yet at peace, let us mobilize the potentialities, particularly the moral and spiritual potentialities, which we usually reserve for war.

Through mutual understanding, sincerity and goodwill, and with great wisdom and broad views, the leaders on both sides should jointly initiate new opportunities for peace, stability, cooperation and mutual benefit.

Everybody wants peace. That's a truism. There is no point in accomplishing through war what you can accomplish through peace.