Nelson Mandela Quotes

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

He knew when to compromise. Yet he never compromised his principles. He was a militant. Yet a militant who knew how to plan, assess concrete situations and emerge with rational solutions to problems.

Jinnah is a constant source of inspiration for all those who are fighting against racial and group discrimination.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

To be the father of a nation is a great honor, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy.

Let us not be tempted by those who try to find the unique qualities in a particular group. In this case, among South Africa indigenous people, it reflected what has been evidenced throughout the world.

A government which uses force to maintain its rule teaches the oppressed to use force to oppose it.

Love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

It is our duty to give support to the brother leader ... especially in regards to the sanctions which are not hitting just him, they are hitting the ordinary masses of the people ... our African brothers and sisters.

I never think of the time I have lost. I just carry out a programme because it's there. It's mapped out for me.

Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.

I am the captain of my soul.

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.

The time is always right to do right

South Africans must recall the terrible past so that we can deal with it, forgiving where forgiveness is necessary but never forgetting.

No one in my family had ever attended school [...] On the first day of school my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education. That day, Miss Mdingane told me that my new name was Nelson. Why this particular name I have no idea.

Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.

Freedom is meaningless if people cannot put food in their stomachs, if they can have no shelter, if illiteracy and disease continue to dog them.

I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.

It can be said that there are four basic and primary things that the mass of people in a society wish for: to live in a safe environment, to be able to work and provide for themselves, to have access to good public health and to have sound educational opportunities for their children.

Our single most important challenge is therefore to help establish a social order in which the freedom of the individual will truly mean the freedom of the individual.

Rhetoric is not important. Actions are.

The call now is for each of us to ask ourselves: are we doing all we can to help build the country of our dreams?

Today we are a nation at peace with itself, united in our diversity, not only proclaiming but living out the contention that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. We take our place amongst the nations of the world, confident and proud in being an African country.

I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope.

HIV/AIDS is the greatest danger we have faced for many, many centuries. HIV/AIDS is worse than a war. It is like a world war. Millions of people are dying from it.

Those South Africans who berate me for being loyal to our friends, literally they can go and throw themselves into a pool. I am not going to betray the trust of those who helped us.

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.

People tend to measure themselves by external accomplishments, but jail allows a person to focus on internal ones; such as honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, generosity and an absence of variety. You learn to look into yourself.

The past is a rich resource on which we can draw in order to make decisions for the future, but it does not dictate our choices. We should look back at the past and select what is good, and leave behind what is bad.

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere.

MY greatest regret in life is that I never became the heavyweight boxing champion ofthe world.

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.

Give a child love, laughter and peace, not AIDS.

Why is the United States behaving so arrogantly? All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil.

I always knew that someday I would once again feel the grass under my feet and walk in the sunshine as a free man.

I'm not going to sit here and argue with you. Just PUT THE BLOODY METER ON.

Africans require, want, the franchise on the basis of one man one vote. They want political independence.

South Africa is the most beautiful place on earth. Admittedly, I am biased but when you combine the natural beauty... and the fact that the region is a haven for Africa's most splendid wildlife... Then I think that we have been blessed with a truly wonderful land.

These numbers are staggering, in fact incomprehensible. By all accounts, we are dealing with the greatest health crisis in human history.

Teach the children that Africans are not one iota inferior to Europeans.

But the human body has an enormous capacity for adjusting to trying circumstances. I have found that one can bear the unbearable if one can keep one's spirits strong even when one's body is being tested. Strong convictions are the secret of surviving deprivation; your spirit can be full even when your stomach is empty.

Regarding African education in this country, there was a time when the government took no interest whatsoever in African education. It was the churches, that part of civil society, which bought land, built schools, and employed and paid teachers. People like myself, right from grade eight up to university, I was in missionary schools.

There are leaders who know that however furious the debate, there are good men and women in all population groups - amongst blacks, amongst whites, and amongst Afrikaans and English speaking people.

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

On the The AIDS Epidemic: This is a war. It has killed more people than has been the case in all previous wars and in all previous natural disasters ... We must not continue to be debating, to be arguing, when people are dying.

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?

It generally appears outlandish until its carried out.