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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People respond in accordance to how you relate to them. If you approach them on the basis of violence, that's how they'll react. But if you say, 'We want peace, we want stability,' we can then do a lot of things that will contribute towards the progress of our society.
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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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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.
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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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The victory of democracy in South Africa is the common achievement of all humanity.
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You know, you can only lead them from behind.
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Prison itself is a tremendous education in the need for patience and perseverance. It is above all a test of one's commitment.
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I have been influenced in my thinking by both west and east.
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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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Africans require, want, the franchise on the basis of one man one vote. They want political independence.
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It always seems impossible until it's done.
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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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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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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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Give a child love, laughter and peace, not AIDS.
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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.
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I came across few whites as a boy at Qunu. The local magistrate, of course, was white, as was the nearest shopkeeper. Occasionally, white travelers or policemen passed through our area. These whites appeared as grand as gods to me, and I was aware that they were to be treated with a mixture of fear and respect.
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The Gandhian influence dominated freedom struggles on the African continent right up to the 1960s because of the power it generated and the unity it forged among the apparently powerless. Nonviolence was the official stance of all major African coalitions, and the South African A.N.C. remained implacably opposed to violence for most of its existence.
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My son has died of AIDS.
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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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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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Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.
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Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.