# Quote — Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country

> For what can men do when so many have grown lawless? Who can enjoy the lovely land, who can enjoy the seventy years, and the sun that pours down on the earth, when there is fear in the heart? Who can walk quietly in the shadow of the jacarandas, when their beauty is grown to danger? Who can lie peacefully abed, while the darkness holds some secret? What lovers can lie sweetly under the stars, when menace grows with the measure of their seclusion?

- Author: [Alan Paton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-paton.md)
- Book: [Cry, The Beloved Country](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-paton/cry-the-beloved-country.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Paton#Cry,_the_Beloved_Country,_(1948)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-paton/cry-the-beloved-country/for-what-can

## More from this book

> The white man has broken the tribe. And it is my belief—and again I ask your pardon—that it cannot be mended again. But the house that is broken, and the man that falls apart when the house is broken, these are the tragic things. That is why children break the law, and old white people are robbed and beaten.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-paton/cry-the-beloved-country/the-white-man.md)

> Sorrow is better than fear. Fear is a journey,a terrible journey, but sorrow is at least an arrival. When the storm threatens, a man is afraid for his house. But when the house is destroyed, there is something to do. About a storm he can do nothing, but he can rebuild a house.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-paton/cry-the-beloved-country/sorrow-is-better.md)

> Pain and suffering, they are a secret. Kindness and love, they are a secret. But I have learned that kindness and love can pay for pain and suffering.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-paton/cry-the-beloved-country/pain-and-suffering.md)