Nelson Mandela Quotes (125 Quotes)


    I hope you will be able to discuss and consider this matter urgently and tell me your decision.

    It is one of the most powerful instruments to bring about a united nation, and it also says, let us forget the past. Let us think of the present and future,

    Whatever the sentence Your Worship sees fit to impose upon me for the crime for which I have been convicted before this court may it rest assured that when my sentence has been completed, I will still be moved as men are always moved, by their consci

    We must find ways and means to make lifesaving treatment available to all who need it.

    We need to exert ourselves that much more, and break out of the vicious cycle of dependence imposed on us by the financially powerful those in command of immense market power and those who dare to fashion the world in their own image


    The greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall.


    Despite huge gains, too many of you remain homeless, poor and illiterate. The struggle did not end five years ago,

    The power of imagination created the illusion that my vision went much farther than the naked eye could actually see.

    The New Year will bring many changes, ... They will depend on our working together to realize our dream.

    We all felt on top of the world. It was a justification for the sacrifices which had been made by our people since the arrival of whites in this country in 1652.

    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.

    After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

    There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.

    Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.

    Where poverty exists, there is not true freedom, ... The world is hungry for action, not words. I am proud to wear the symbol of this global cause to action.

    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.

    It was the government that should have been told to refrain from its inhuman policy of violence and massacre, not the African people .... It was further argued that it is wrong and indefensible for a political Organization to repudiate picketing, whi

    is eager for peace. He is a passionate fighter for peace.

    I regard it as a duty which I owed, not just to my people, but also to my profession, to the practice of law, and to the justice for all mankind, to cry out against this discrimination which is essentially unjust and opposed to the whole basis of the attitude towards justice which is part of the tradition of legal training in this country. I believed that in taking up a stand against this injustice I was upholding the dignity of what should be an honorable profession.

    History and the generations to come will judge our leaders by the decisions they make in the coming weeks,

    As a leader... I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a con-sensus of what I heard in the discussion. I always remember the axiom a leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.

    How can I be expected to believe that this same racial discrimination which has been the cause of so much injustice and suffering right through the years, should now operate here to give me a fair and open trial.... consider myself neither morally nor legally obliged to obey laws made by a Parliament in which I am not represented. That the will of the people is the basis of the authority of government, is a principle universally acknowledged as sacred throughout the civilized world.

    This is one of the most important moments in the life of our country. I stand here before you filled with deep pride and joy - pride in the ordinary, humble people of this country. You have shown such calm, patient determination to reclaim this count

    I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.

    I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A man does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards, but when I was notified that I had won the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Mr de Klerk, I was deeply moved. The Nobel Peace P

    President Clinton, as well as the first lady, Hillary, they have the correct instincts on the major international questions facing the world today, ... For that reason, I hold him ... in high respect.

    We... call for the rigorous implementation of the U.N. Security Council sanctions to oblige UNITA fully to implement the Lusaka peace protocol,

    Our hope is that the elementary reading of comics will lead to the joy of reading good books,

    It is a realization of a dream for me to be here to come and pledge my solidarity with my friend Yasser Arafat,

    This is a very sensitive matter, highly personal, and you will appreciate it if I don't make any comment.

    Representatives of the contesting parties have made a request that they would like to meet in South Africa ... to be able to discuss their problems,


    Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president...

    I hate racial discrimination most intensely and all its manifestations. I have fought all my life I fight now, and will do so until the end of my days. Even although I now happen to be tried by one, whose opinion I hold in high esteem, I detest most violently the set-up that surrounds me here. It makes me feel that I am a Black man in a White man's court. This should not be I should feel perfectly at ease and at home with the assurance that I am being tried by a fellow South African, who does not regard me as an inferior, entitled to a special type of justice.

    said Nic Buchanan, the creator of the comic books. ''They don't know their own history. We celebrated democracy and the miracle, but the building stones of a progressive and enlightened society needs work.

    Let us give publicity to HIVAIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and to say somebody has died because of HIVAIDS, ... And people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary.

    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?

    China is one of the most populous states in the world, a member of the United Nations, a permanent member of the Security Council. It is in the interests of South Africa to have relations with such a country,

    All South Africans would want me to take this opportunity to convey in person our heartfelt condolences at the tragic event which afflicted your family recently,

    A visit to this country by President Clinton is the high water mark.

    One temptation of a leader elected unopposed is that he may use that powerful position to settle scores with his detractors, marginalize them and, in certain cases, get rid of them and surround himself with yes men and women,

    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.

    Among our country's major challenges are crime, joblessness and corruption,

    This project is going to bring some change to the lives of the community here,

    Your collective wisdom and support was not lost on FIFA.

    South Africa is moving in the right direction, ... We should have confidence that there are great days ahead.


    Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.

    It is said that no-one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones, Mr Mandela has said.


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