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" I live a very enjoyable life. I understand what moderation is. "
Hugh Masekela
Life
Live
Moderation
Related Quotes:
" I'm travelling more than ever. I don't have the answer as to why, but the demand seems to have grown as I've got older. "
Hugh Masekela
Older
More
Got
" It's obvious that the rest of the world loves high African culture - African culture, period. "
Hugh Masekela
Culture
High
Obvious
" Twenty years ago, I was part of a movement of millions of people who were going after freedom. But today, they look and they say, 'What are the advantages of freedom?' So far, it's the vote and maybe, in certain places, lack of police harassment. You can live anywhere you want and do anything you want - if you have the means. "
Hugh Masekela
Vote
Live
Freedom
" I'm not a Christian. My participation in music is so full blast, 24 hours a day. And that's my religion. I think I'm as spiritual as the pope, because I spend as much time in my spirituality as he does. "
Hugh Masekela
Music
Day
Time
" One of the greatest things that could really happen to Africa is for us to get rid of the borders and for the leadership not to think that the countries belong to them... We didn't create the borders to start with. "
Hugh Masekela
Think
Start
Leadership
" If I don't make heritage visible and the strength of mother tongue important for my grandchildren, it scares me that they might say in 20 years from now, 'Well, it is rumoured that we used to be Africans long ago.' And in many urban areas, it's already happening. "
Hugh Masekela
Mother
Say
Grandchildren
" The thing that is being lost is heritage. In Africa, religion and advertisement and television and media hype have gotten Africans to where they are convinced psychologically that their own heritage is heathen, pagan, barbaric, savage, primitive. "
Hugh Masekela
Heritage
Lost
Media
" Mandela was chosen as a symbol of the South African struggle, and he did that great. But I wasn't just happy for him. I was happy for the people. "
Hugh Masekela
He
Great
Happy
" I started playing the piano when I was 6 years old 'cause my folks tried to get me away from the gramophone. And I just - I lived for music since I could think. And they got me piano lessons. So by the time I was 13, I was quite an accomplished piano player and musician. "
Hugh Masekela
Think
Lived
Music
" The apartheid people were actors, and they had to act out their part in their beliefs every day. That's why we always saw them as being comedic. "
Hugh Masekela
Act
Why
People
" Watching a Kirk Douglas movie, 'Young Man With A Horn,' made me want to be a trumpet player. "
Hugh Masekela
Young Man
Young
Want
" I don't think I have the power to forgive. "
Hugh Masekela
Think
Forgive
Power
" Whatever you go into, you have to go in there to be the best. There's no formulas. It's all about passion and honesty and hard work. It might look glamorous, but it takes a lot of hard work. The blessing with the arts is that you can do it forever. "
Hugh Masekela
Passion
Hard Work
Best
" I lived for music since I could think. "
Hugh Masekela
Could
Think
Music
" I think it is incumbent on all human beings to oppose injustice in every form. "
Hugh Masekela
Human
Injustice
Form
" Not only in Africa but in much of the world, most leaders' pockets are lined by industrial business. And industrial business is never going to stop aiming at profit. "
Hugh Masekela
World
Africa
Business
" When I left South Africa there were 10 million people - when I came back there were more than 40 million. I had to learn how to get to the highways because when I left where there were no highways. "
Hugh Masekela
Left
Back
Africa
" For me to want to play the trumpet was a very, very odd thing for my clan as a whole. One of my uncles was a high school principal, and he referred to my trumpet as a bugle, which really hurt me. "
Hugh Masekela
Play
School
Odd
" What people don't know about oppression is that the oppressor works much harder. You always grew up being told you were not smart enough or not fast enough, but we all lived from the time we were children to beat the system. "
Hugh Masekela
Time
Smart
People
" When people campaign for positions, they promise people all kinds of things. "
Hugh Masekela
Kinds
Things
Promise
" Just because Nelson has been released doesn't mean the government has done us any favors. We have nothing to be grateful for. The government destroyed our country, destroyed our people. If anybody needs amnesty, it is the government. "
Hugh Masekela
Grateful
Done
Mean
" Africa has been troubled for a long time - well, the world has been troubled ever since I was born. "
Hugh Masekela
Well
Born
Long Time
" I think the most difficult thing that has had to happen in South Africa for the previously disadvantaged communities is they had to reconcile that the oppressor has been enriched and the establishment is now making five or 10 times more profit than they were during the time the economic embargo was on them. "
Hugh Masekela
Time
Now
Africa
" Once in a while, I treat myself to a cheesecake or carrot cake. "
Hugh Masekela
Cake
Treat
Carrot
" I've got to where am in life not because of something I brought to the world but through something I found - the wealth of African culture. "
Hugh Masekela
World
Wealth
Through
" In some townships, political parties are run by thugs financed from Cape Town. If we don't have support of the police, we can not have the ability to organize and to gain even a slight semblance of power. "
Hugh Masekela
Police
Run
Support
" I couldn't get away from the gramophone. It was the only thing that I ever really liked, and I was singing along by the time I was five years old - to the Modernaires and Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. "
Hugh Masekela
Singing
King
Holiday
" I want to see Nelson walking down the streets of South Africa; I want to see him walking hand-in-hand with Winnie Mandela. "
Hugh Masekela
Africa
See
Down
" I've always stood on one fact - that all over the world, there are only two things, the Establishment and the poor people. The poor people are a massive majority and across the world they are exploited in different kinds of ways. The Establishment depends on exploiting raw materials and the poor. "
Hugh Masekela
World
Poor
People
" I am a forward-looking person and live in the moment to build for the future. "
Hugh Masekela
Build
Future
I Am