It is not permissible to add to one's possesions if these things can only be done at the cost of other men. Such development has only one true name, and that is exploitation.
Interpretation
Exploiting others for personal gain is morally unacceptable.
This quote by Alan Paton emphasizes the ethical implications of acquiring wealth or resources at the expense of others. It highlights the concept of exploitation, suggesting that true development and progress cannot be justified if they result in harm or disadvantage to others, urging a moral reassessment of how we pursue our personal and collective ambitions.
In practice
In a discussion about corporate ethics, one might cite this quote to illustrate the dangers of profit-driven practices.
Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that's the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing. Nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him if he gives too much.
Ask yourself not if this or that is expedient, but if it is right.
One day in Johannesburg, and already the tribe was being rebuilt, the house and soul being restored.
What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? What broke when he could bring himself to thrust down the knife into the warm flesh, to bring down the axe on the living head, to cleave down between the seeing eyes, to shoot the gun that would drive death into the beating heart?
If you wrote a novel in South Africa which didn't concern the central issues, it wouldn't be worth publishing.
There is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills. These hills are grass-covered and rolling, and they are lovely beyond any singing of it.
You've never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive.
Much like a subtle spider which doth sit_x000D_ _x000D_ In middle of her web, which spreadeth wide;_x000D_ _x000D_ If aught do touch the utmost thread of it,_x000D_ _x000D_ She feels it instantly on every side.
It is a hard thing for a man to be righteous, if the unrighteous man is to have the greater right.
Rover did not know in the least where the moon's path led to, and at present he was much too frightened and excited to ask, and anyway he was beginning to get used to extraordinary things happening to him.
Better to sleep in an uncomfortable bed free, than sleep in a comfortable bed unfree.
I'm not an optimist. I'm a realist. And my reality is that we live in a multifaceted, multicultural world. And maybe once we stop labeling ourselves, then maybe everyone else will.
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