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Quotes by Nelson Mandela


When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.
– Nelson Mandela

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
– Nelson Mandela

The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
– Nelson Mandela
After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
– Nelson Mandela
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
– Nelson Mandela
Communists have always played an active role in the fight by colonial countries for their freedom, because the short-term objects of Communism would always correspond with the long-term objects of freedom movements.
– Nelson Mandela
I cannot conceive of Israel withdrawing if Arab states do not recognize Israel, within secure borders.
– Nelson Mandela
I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.
– Nelson Mandela
I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses.
– Nelson Mandela
If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don't ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers.
– Nelson Mandela
If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.
– Nelson Mandela
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
– Nelson Mandela
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
– Nelson Mandela
In my country we go to prison first and then become President.
– Nelson Mandela
Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.
– Nelson Mandela
Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.
– Nelson Mandela
Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.
– Nelson Mandela
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.
– Nelson Mandela
Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.
– Nelson Mandela
The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
– Nelson Mandela
There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.
– Nelson Mandela
There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.
– Nelson Mandela
There is nothing like returning to a place that reminds unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
– Nelson Mandela
We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.
– Nelson Mandela
When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.
– Nelson Mandela
These numbers are staggering, in fact incomprehensible. By all accounts, we are dealing with the greatest health crisis in human history.
– Nelson Mandela
We recall the joy and excitement of a nation that had found itself, the collective relief that we had stepped out of our restrictive past, and the expectant air of walking into a brighter future.
– Nelson Mandela
A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.
– Nelson Mandela
Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.
– Nelson Mandela
There is nothing I fear more than waking up without a program that will help me bring a little happiness to those with no resources, those who are poor, illiterate, and ridden with terminal disease.
– Nelson Mandela
There is no such thing as part freedom.
– Nelson Mandela
There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
– Nelson Mandela
There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile to continue talking about peace and non-violence against a government whose only reply is savage attacks on an unarmed and defenceless people.
– Nelson Mandela
Sometimes, I feel like one who is on the sidelines, who has missed life itself.
– Nelson Mandela
Our single most important challenge is therefore to help establish a social order in which the freedom of the individual will truly mean the freedom of the individual.
– Nelson Mandela
Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.
– Nelson Mandela
Nonviolence is a good policy when the conditions permit.
– Nelson Mandela
It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.
– Nelson Mandela
Intervention only works when the people concerned seem to be keen for peace.
– Nelson Mandela
I started to make a study of the art of war and revolution and, whilst abroad, underwent a course in military training. If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them.
– Nelson Mandela
I should tie myself to no particular system of society other than of socialism.
– Nelson Mandela
I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife.
– Nelson Mandela
I made a mistake by being ejected from the presidency. Next time, I will choose a Cabinet which will allow me to be life President.
– Nelson Mandela
I have retired, but if there's anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.
– Nelson Mandela
I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.
– Nelson Mandela
I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites.
– Nelson Mandela
I am confident that nobody... will accuse me of selfishness if I ask to spend time, while I am still in good health, with my family, my friends and also with myself.
– Nelson Mandela
Give a child love, laughter and peace, not AIDS.
– Nelson Mandela
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
– Nelson Mandela
Does anybody really think that they didn't get what they had because they didn't have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment?
– Nelson Mandela
Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.
– Nelson Mandela
Before I went to jail, I was active in politics as a member of South Africa's leading organization - and I was generally busy from 7 A.M. until midnight. I never had time to sit and think.
– Nelson Mandela
A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don't have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.
– Nelson Mandela