No single person can liberate a country. You can only liberate a country if you act as a collective.

Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom. Of course the task will not be easy. But not to do this would be a crime against humanity, against which I ask all humanity now to rise up.

The authorities liked to say that we received a balanced diet; it was indeed balanced - between the unpalatable and the inedible.

There will be life after Mandela. On my last day I want to know that those who remain behind will say: 'The man who lies here has done his duty for his country and his people.'

My son has died of AIDS.

We must nurture tolerance, collective wisdom, and democracy.

I've found that South Africa has produced good leaders. These are people who realize that when there is danger, they should be in the forefront and when there is victory to be celebrated, they should be in the background, allowing their colleagues and the ordinary civilians - the man in the street - to rejoice and to celebrate that victory.