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" 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. "

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" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I don't think I have the power to forgive. "

" In my view, Africa's real problems are cultural. "

" I live a very enjoyable life. I understand what moderation is. "

" I got possessed by music as an infant. "

" 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. "

" When I left South Africa in 1960 I was 20 years old. I wanted to try to get an education, and music education was not available for me in South Africa. "

" Apartheid didn't impinge on music. It impinged on people's freedoms. "

" It's obvious that the rest of the world loves high African culture - African culture, period. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I always make the joke that I go home, to one of my homes, to go and do laundry so I can go on the road again. "

" Watching a Kirk Douglas movie, 'Young Man With A Horn,' made me want to be a trumpet player. "

" 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. "

" Corruption is everywhere, man. "

" 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. "

" I don't think what I do is influenced by suffering. I come from a talented people who are prolific in music and dance. "

" 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. "

" I think it is incumbent on all human beings to oppose injustice in every form. "

" I want to see Nelson walking down the streets of South Africa; I want to see him walking hand-in-hand with Winnie Mandela. "

" I grew up with protests, marches, demonstrations, struggle. But I come from a clan of community workers. "

" I don't criticise anybody, but I just don't understand religion. Like I don't understand nationalism. These are the two things that cause wars. I don't understand why they are supposed to be good things. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I don't think any musician ever thinks about making a statement. I think everybody goes into music loving it. "

" I lived for music since I could think. "

" I just came from South Africa, a place that had been in a perpetual uprising since 1653, so the uprising had become a way of life in our culture and we grew up with rallies and strikes and marches and boycotts. "