A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.

I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.

Our efforts to counter hatred, intolerance, and indifference must continue simultaneously at individual and structural levels. We must try to influence for good the minds and hearts of individual people through dialogue and confidence building. These efforts must be reinforced by our efforts to create just structures in society to support the ongoing work of negotiations in the human community. Only then will we have a chance to negate the terrible consequences of the tremendous conflicts facing humankind today.

I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.

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?

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

My time in prison only deepened my resolve against apartheid. Even while I was in prison, I fought against it, teaching my cellmates about white supremacy and how to fight against it.