The Covenant Quotes

“This is not a promise, this is not threat, it's just the way it's gonna be!!!”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“a word once written will often accidentally find a life that no one anticipates; it lies”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“Nations tend to be governed by men who have been forced by adversity to clarify their thought; those who have enjoyed unbroken smooth sailing are often too lazy to speculate on how to manage their ship in storms.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“They had fallen victims to that terrible affliction which brings certain crucifixion: they took religion too seriously; they trusted Jesus Christ; they believed that the bright, soaring promises of the New Testament could be used as a basis for government; and they followed these precepts unfalteringly in the one part of the world where they would cause offense to three powerful groups of people: the old Boers, the new English, the timeless blacks.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“the colony”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“It was an act of God, many alleged, that the three Saltwood children were absent when assassins struck. They were trekking in the Great Karroo with a Hottentot family, gathering ostrich plumes for sale in Paris. When they returned, their parents were already buried, and there was heated discussion as to what should happen to them. Some said they should be freighted down to Grahamstown on the next wagon heading south, but word was received that they were not wanted there. So there was some talk of sending them along to LMS headquarters in Cape Town, but they already had a flood of Coloured orphans and abandoned children. It would be quite improper to ship them off to England, where their ancestry would damn them. Put simply, there was no place for them. No one felt any responsibility for the offspring of what from the start had been a disastrous marriage. So the children were left with the Hottentots with whom they had hunted ostrich plumes. For a few years they would be special, for the older ones could read and write, but as time passed and the necessity for marriage arrived, they would slide imperceptibly into that amorphous, undigestible mass of people called Coloured.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“I am a very foolish fond old man, Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less; And, to deal plainly, I fear I am not in my perfect mind.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“I hate to say this to a professor of history, and a very good one, but South Africa is a land cruelly wounded by its constant recollection of things past. At certain points the English did behave poorly; this is never allowed to be forgotten. At every memorial the same time-worn litany of incidents must be recited. Hatreds become enshrined as the most vital components of the national mythos, and no one is ever permitted to forget, or turn his attention to more creative tasks. I remember that day you told us what Santayana had said: "Those who forgot history are condemned to repeat it." Well, those who remember it obsessively are poisoned by it. p1149”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“Maurius rose and went to the refrigerator for another beer. "Churches go through cycles. In America, if I understand correctly, your Catholic church is riding rampant on birth control and abortion. That's temporary, a fashion of the moment. It has very little to do with the ongoing operation of the church. Same with our church and apartheid. It's a problem for the 1980s. Fifty years from now it will all be settled." p1105”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“When you seek, you find things that you did not anticipate. p41”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“Frikkie said, “Van der Merwe had a flagpole lying on the ground. He propped it in its hole, got a ladder and a tape measure and tried to climb up to measure it, but the flagpole fell down. Twice again he propped it up and tried to climb it. Finally a Kaffir said, ‘Baas, why don’t you measure it when it’s on the ground?’ and Van der Merwe said, ‘Stupid Kaffir, I want to know its height, not its width.’ ” Jopie said,”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“The worst thing a nation can do to itself is to cultivate and maintain a supply of cheap labor. When salaries are kept down, money stops circulating, taxes bring in diminished funds, and everybody loses. The white man thinks he’s hurting us when he keeps our wages low. Actually, he’s hurting himself.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“Year after year one black in four throughout the general population was arrested for some trivial offense or other, and it was fortunate for them that not all police were as determined and sadistic as the team of Krause and Krog. Their like could be found in most countries; Russia, East Germany, Iran, Argentina, Brazil, all had such interrogators. But the majority of South African policemen tried to be law-abiding officers of justice; Krause and Krog were officers of terror.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“abiding officers of justice; Krause and Krog were officers of terror.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“They headed northwest for a destination unknown, one man, one woman traversing barren lands that held no water, moving into canyons where desperadoes might be lurking, and crossing lands often ravaged by wandering bands of Hottentot and Bushmen outlaws.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“A minority with machine guns can always protect itself.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“It was language, which tyrannizes us all,”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“The worst thing a nation can do to itself is to cultivate and maintain a supply of cheap labor. When salaries are kept down, money stops circulating, taxes bring in diminished funds, and everybody loses.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“Losing a battle is far less important than losing relative position in the hierarchy.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“When you seek, you find things you did not anticipate.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“Zimbabwe”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“biltong.”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“Ham, and he must no longer live with us or feed with us, or in any”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“Rebecca?”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“theophany”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“dominee”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“Specx”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“pemmican”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“lobola”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant

“paillasse”
― James A. Michener, The Covenant