I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.

Home is home even for those who aspire to serve wider interests and who have established their home of choice in distant regions.

Lead from the front - but don t leave your base behind.

Racism is a blight on the human conscience

The challenge for each one of you is to take up these ideals of tolerance and respect for others and put them to practical use in your schools, your communities and throughout your lives.

The time will come when our nation will honour the memory of all the sons, the daughters, the mothers, the fathers, the youth and the children who, by their thoughts and deeds, gave us the right to assert with pride that we are South Africans, that we are Africans, and that we are citizens of the world.

That was one of the things that worried me – to be raised to the position of a semi-god – because then you are no longer a human being. I wanted to be known as Mandela, a man with weaknesses, some of which are fundamental, and a man who is committed, but never the less, sometimes he fails to live up to expectations.