Part of building a new nation means building a spirit of tolerance, love and respect amongst the people of this country.

Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.

There is nothing to popularize a person. Only humility, which is the ability to remain in the background and to put others in the front light.

A free press is one of the pillars of democracy.

I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites.

One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.

[I] read Anne Frank's diary [while imprisoned] on Robben Island and derived much encouragement from it.