Nelson Mandela Quotes
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The victory of democracy in South Africa is the common achievement of all humanity.
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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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Africans require, want, the franchise on the basis of one man one vote. They want political independence.
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Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.
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Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.
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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.
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It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea.
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We stand here today as nothing more than a representative of the millions of our people who dared to rise up against a social system whose very essence is war, violence, racism, oppression, repression and the impoverishment of an entire people.
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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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Sabotage did not involve loss of life, and it offered the best hope for future race relations. Bitterness would be kept to a minimum and, if the policy bore fruit, democratic government could become a reality.
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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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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.
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I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.
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I would wear the blue overalls of the fieldworker and often wore round, rimless glasses known as Mazzawati teaglasses. I had a car, and I wore a chauffeur's cap with my overalls. The pose of chauffeur was convenient because I could travel under the pretext of driving my master's car.
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I cannot conceive of Israel withdrawing if Arab states do not recognize Israel, within secure borders.
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I can't pretend that I'm brave and that I can beat the whole world.
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Leaders in all spheres who are living with HIV should be encouraged, not coerced, to lead by example and disclose their HIV status.
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I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.
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There must be an end to white monopoly on political power, and a fundamental restructuring of our political and economic systems to ensure that the inequalities of apartheid are addressed and our society thoroughly democratized.
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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.
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At the outset, I want to say that the suggestion that the struggle in South Africa is under the influence of foreigners or communists is wholly incorrect. I have done whatever I did because of my experience in South Africa and my own proudly felt African background, and not because of what any outsider might have said.
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The education I received was a British education, in which British ideas, British culture, British institutions, were automatically assumed to be superior. There was no such thing as African culture.
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You sharpen your ideas by reducing yourself to the level of the people you are with and a sense of humour and a complete relaxation, even when you’re discussing serious things, does help to mobilise friends around you. And I love that.
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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.