Nelson Mandela Quotes
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The majority of South Africans, black and white, recognize that apartheid has no future. It has to be ended by our own decisive mass action in order to build peace and security. The mass campaign of defiance and other actions of our organization and people can only culminate in the establishment of democracy.
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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 defenseless people.
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There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.
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What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.
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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.
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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.
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There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
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My son has died of AIDS.
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I realized quickly what Mandela and Tambo meant to ordinary Africans. It was a place where they could come and find a sympathetic ear and a competent ally, a place where they would not be either turned away or cheated, a place where they might actually feel proud to be represented by men of their own skin color.
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Unlike some politicians, I can admit to a mistake.
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When I came to Johannesburg from the countryside, I knew nobody, but many strangers were very kind to me. I then was dragged into politics, and then, subsequently, I became a lawyer.
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In countries where innocent people are dying, the leaders are following their blood rather than their brains.
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If you are poor, you are not likely to live long.
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I have been influenced in my thinking by both west and east.
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Even if you have a terminal disease, you don't have to sit down and mope. Enjoy life and challenge the illness that you have.
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After one has been in prison, it is the small things that one appreciates: being able to take a walk whenever one wants, going into a shop and buying a newspaper, speaking or choosing to remain silent. The simple act of being able to control one's person.
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It always seems impossible until it's done.
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A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
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Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.
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Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.
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There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.
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In the 1940s, traveling for an African was a complicated process. All Africans over the age of sixteen were compelled to carry 'Native passes' issued by the Native Affairs Department and were required to show that pass to any white policeman, civil servant, or employer. Failure to do so could mean arrest, trial, a jail sentence or fine.
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The names of Dingane and Bambata, Hintsa and Makana, Squngthi and Dalasile, Moshoeshoe and Sekhukhuni, were praised as the glory of the entire African nation. I hoped then that life might offer me the opportunity to serve my people and make my own humble contribution to their freedom struggle.
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Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.