Tebello Nyokong

"I completely object to the notion that there is anybody special in this world. We are all good at what we do. We just have to find a way of understanding what we want to do, and not ask for short cuts.”"

"You didn’t dream too far because in that environment, there aren’t many people who have gone far."

"After school, I knew that I was a scientist, one way or the other. How far I would go with the science, I did not know. I didn’t know what chemistry was about, I didn’t even know what I would do with chemistry, but it was challenging and I liked it."

"At the start my father influenced my path. He believed that the apartheid system could only be defeated through education and I was encouraged to excel at a very young age."

"I urge all young people in the country to study to the highest possible level [PhD]. The development of South Africa will depend on highly skilled labor. No country can have lasting economic."

"Sometimes I think gosh, that is not me. I’m just doing my work, that’s all it is. I love my students and I embarrass them a lot sometimes."