F. W. de Klerk quotes

F. W. de Klerk was a South African statesman best known for his role in ending apartheid. As the last president of apartheid-era South Africa, he helped initiate major reforms and negotiate the country's transition to democracy. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize and is remembered as a key figure in South Africa’s peaceful transformation. Here are 34 of his quotes:

We have failed to bring justice. We cannot build the future on injustice.

F. W. de Klerk

I have great sympathy with America. It's very, it's very tough to be the only remaining superpower in the world.

F. W. de Klerk

We're not doing what we do because of sanctions. We're doing what we do because we believe it is right.

F. W. de Klerk

I'm a Christian. I'm a South African. I'm an Afrikaner. I'm a lawyer. I love my country, and I think that this country has a great future. In that sense of the word, I`m a practical idealist.

F. W. de Klerk

If I look back, the one thing that I am proud of is that for once I as a political leader, kept every promise I made within one term of office. We achieved a new constitution; we achieved a new bill of rights, which encapsulated this vision of justice for all.

F. W. de Klerk

Above all, we owe it to the children of the world to stop the conflicts and to create new horizons for them.

F. W. de Klerk

Racism is a part of a problem, a world problem, which has to be overcome.

F. W. de Klerk

What I haven't apologised for is the original concept of seeking to bring justice to all South Africans through the concept of nation states.

F. W. de Klerk

For many years, I supported the concept of separate states.

F. W. de Klerk

Nigeria, it's a beautiful country with a great potential and I believe that in that part of the continent, Nigeria, once it sorts out its own problems, have a crucial role to play, like South Africa has in the more southern part of our continent.

F. W. de Klerk

I prefer to live in South Africa because it's a wonderful country; because I've been there for 300 years.

F. W. de Klerk

Peace does not fare well where poverty and deprivation reign. It does not flourish where there is ignorance and a lack of education and information.

F. W. de Klerk

The question that we must ask is whether we are making progress toward the goal of universal peace. Or are we caught up on a treadmill of history, turning forever on the axle of mindless aggression and self-destruction?

F. W. de Klerk

I played an integral part in helpings formulating that new vision... that we must abandon apartheid and accept one united South Africa with equal rights for all, with all forms of discrimination to be scrapped from the statute book.

F. W. de Klerk

It was an honour for me to have been able to work with Mr. Mandela in the process that led to the adoption of the interim constitution and our first democratic elections in April 1994.

F. W. de Klerk

Peace does not simply mean the absence of conflict... There can therefore be no real peace without justice or consent... Peace does not fare well where poverty and deprivation reign... It is very significant that there has never been a war between genuine and universal democracies. There have been countless wars between totalitarian and authoritarian states. There have been wars between democracies and dictatorships - most often in defense of democratic values ​​or in response to aggression.

F. W. de Klerk

If our old policy, which was so unpopular in many circles, could work, then we would have surely clung to it. But as responsible leaders charged with the government of the country, we came to the conclusion that the policy we had planned could simply not work.

F. W. de Klerk

I apologize in my capacity as leader of the NP to the millions who suffered wrenching disruption of forced removals; who suffered the shame of being arrested for pass law offences; who over the decades suffered the indignities and humiliation of racial discrimination.

F. W. de Klerk

As we did before in 1994, I feel we have a capacity to do so again. We succeeded in resolving our problems by peaceful means when everybody expected war and violence... We have one of the best constitutions in the world. We should be proud of this constitution, which provides the framework for a functioning multiparty democracy, independent courts and other institutions that stand for [the] advancement of human rights... He said the country had already held three elections and that two presidents had relinquished their power through constitutional means. Although former president Thabo Mbeki had left under difficult conditions, even that had been done constitutionally... These are all signs of growing constitutional maturity. Our democracy is growing up and there are open debates which will take us to robust contestations.

F. W. de Klerk

History has placed a tremendous responsibility on the shoulders of this country's leadership, namely the responsibility of moving our country away from the current course of conflict and confrontation... The hope of millions of South Africans is fixed on us. The future of southern Africa depends on us. We dare not waver or fail.

F. W. de Klerk

[S]anctions should be reserved, if we think international, for extremely serious situations.

F. W. de Klerk

[M]y ideal is that what we should do is to, to also rise above that and to achieve true non-racialism.

F. W. de Klerk