Top 100 Nelson Mandela Quotes
#1. A new society cannot be created by reproducing the repugnant past, however refined or enticingly repackaged.
Nelson Mandela
#2. It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success.
Nelson Mandela
#3. We can neither heal nor build if, on the one hand the rich in our society see the poor as hordes of irritants or if on the other hand the poor sit back, expecting charity. All of us must take responsibility for the upliftment of our conditions, prepared to give our best to the benefit of all
Nelson Mandela
#4. Even if you have a terminal disease, you don't have to sit down and mope. Enjoy life and challenge the illness that you have.
Nelson Mandela
#5. Prison is a still point in a turning world, and it is very easy to remain in the same place in jail while the world moves on.
Nelson Mandela
#6. Like the gardener, a leader must take responsibility for what he cultivates; he must mind his work, try to repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved, and eliminate what cannot succeed.
Nelson Mandela
#7. A real leader uses every issue, no matter how serious and sensitive, to ensure that at the end of the debate we should emerge stronger and more united than ever before.
Nelson Mandela
#8. 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.
Nelson Mandela
#9. 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.
Nelson Mandela
#10. Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.
Nelson Mandela
#11. In my younger days, I was arrogant - jail helped me to get rid of it. I did nothing but make enemies because of my arrogance.
Nelson Mandela
#12. Young people are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom.
Nelson Mandela
#13. I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A person does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards.
Nelson Mandela
#14. We cannot blame other people for our troubles. We are not victims of the influx of foreign people into South Africa. We must remember that it was mainly due to the aggressive and hostile policies of the apartheid regime that the economic development of our neighbours was undermined.
Nelson Mandela
#15. History will surely judge us harshly if we do not respond with all the energy and resources that we can bring to bear in the fight against HIV/AIDS
Nelson Mandela
#17. Political division, based on color, is entirely artificial; and when it disappears, so will the domination of one color group by another.
Nelson Mandela
#18. I have found Jews to be more broad-minded than most whites on issues of race and politics, perhaps because they themselves have historically been victims of prejudice.
Nelson Mandela
#19. If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
Nelson Mandela
#20. It is my deepest conviction that the children should be seen and heard as our most treasured assets.
Nelson Mandela
#21. The purpose of freedom is to create it for others. Prison desk calendar, written on Robben Island, June 2, 1979
Nelson Mandela
#22. I have been influenced in my thinking by both west and east.
Nelson Mandela
#23. Prison is designed to break one's spirit and destroy one's resolve. To do this, the authorities attempt to exploit every weakness, demolish every initiative, negate all signs of individuality
all with the idea of stamping out that spark that makes each of us human and each of us who we are.
Nelson Mandela
#25. You negotiate in bad faith if you do not forgive your adversary.
Nelson Mandela
#26. The greatest single challenge facing our globalised world is to combat and eradicate its disparities.
Nelson Mandela
#27. 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.
Nelson Mandela
#28. As long as outmoded ways of thinking prevent women from making a meaningful contribution to society, progress will be slow. As long as the nation refuses to acknowledge the equal role of more than half of itself, it is doomed to failure.
Nelson Mandela
#29. One effect of sustained conflict is to narrow our vision of what is possible.
Nelson Mandela
#30. I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.
Nelson Mandela
#31. I cannot conceive of Israel withdrawing if Arab states do not recognize Israel, within secure borders.
Nelson Mandela
#33. I dust [your photo] carefully every morning, for to do so gives me the pleasant feeling that I'm caressing you as in the old days. I even touch your nose with mine to recapture the electric current that used to flush through my blood whenever I did so.
Nelson Mandela
#34. Our experience has taught us that with goodwill a negotiated solution can be found for even the most profound problems.
Nelson Mandela
#35. Only armchair politicians are immune from committing mistakes. Errors are inherent in political action.
Nelson Mandela
#36. I know that, throughout the world, there are good men and women concerned with the greatest challenges facing society today - poverty, illiteracy, and disease.
Nelson Mandela
#37. Education is the great engine to personal development.
Nelson Mandela
#38. Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela
#39. 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?
Nelson Mandela
#40. I told my cellmates about the oppression of the whites and apartheid. I helped organize hunger strikes and the like in my prison.
Nelson Mandela
#41. The question of education has nothing to do with the question of the vote. On numerous occasions it has been proved in history that people can enjoy the vote even if they have no education.
Nelson Mandela
#42. I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE AND THE CAPTAIN OF MY DESTINY.
Nelson Mandela
#43. My dream would be a multicultural society, one that is diverse and where every man, woman and child are treated equally. I dream of a world where all people of all races work together in harmony.
Nelson Mandela
#44. The impression that you are a demigod worried me. I wanted to be like an ordinary human being with virtues and vices.
Nelson Mandela
#45. The people of Africa have learned the lessons of patience and endurance in their long struggle for freedom.
In a cynical world we have become an inspiration to many. We signal that good can be achieved amongst human beings who are prepared to trust, prepared to belief in the goodness of people.
Nelson Mandela
#46. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair
Nelson Mandela
#49. Let us give publicity to H.I.V./AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died because of H.I.V./AIDS, and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary.
Nelson Mandela
#50. There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile to continue talking about peace and non-violence against a government whose only reply is savage attacks on an unarmed and defenceless people.
Nelson Mandela
#51. Politics can be strengthened by music, but music has a potency that defies politics.
Nelson Mandela
#52. The path of those who preach love, and not hatred, is not easy. They often have to wear a crown of thorns.
Nelson Mandela
#55. I have always admired men and women who used their talents to serve the community, and who were highly respected and admired for their efforts and sacrifices, even though they held no office whatsoever in government or society.
Nelson Mandela
#56. History and the generations to come will judge our leaders by the decisions they make in the coming weeks.
Nelson Mandela
#57. 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.
Nelson Mandela
#58. learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.
Nelson Mandela
#59. That day, Miss Mdingane told me that my new name was Nelson. Why she bestowed this particular name upon me I have no idea. Perhaps it had something to do with the great British sea captain Lord Nelson, but that would be only a guess.
Nelson Mandela
#60. I discovered for the first time people of my own age firmly aligned with the liberation struggle, who were prepared, despite their relative privilege, to sacrifice themselves of the cause of the oppressed.
Nelson Mandela
#61. What has sustained me even in the most grim moments is the knowledge that I am a member of a tried and tested family which has triumphed over many difficulties.
Nelson Mandela
#62. The so-called 'Palestinian autonomous areas' are bantustans. These are restricted entities within the power structure of the Israeli apartheid system.
Nelson Mandela
#63. Success in politics demands that you must take your people into confidence about your views and state them very clearly, very politely, very calmly, but nevertheless, state them openly.
Nelson Mandela
#64. It enables me to go to bed with an enriching feeling in my soul and the belief that I am changing myself.
Nelson Mandela
#65. I was neglected by my family because I had disappointed them - I'd run away from being forced into an arranged marriage, which was a big blow to them.
Nelson Mandela
#67. We should never forget those on whose shoulders we stand and those who paid the supreme price for freedom.
Nelson Mandela
#68. On the first day of school, my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name and said that from thenceforth that was the name we would answer to in school. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education.
Nelson Mandela
#69. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor.
Nelson Mandela
#71. Sport has the power to overcome old divisions and create the bond of common aspirations
Nelson Mandela
#72. When I came to Johannesburg from the countryside, I knew nobody, but many strangers were very kind to me. I then was dragged into politics, and then, subsequently, I became a lawyer.
Nelson Mandela
#73. I always knew that someday I would once again feel the grass under my feet and walk in the sunshine as a free man.
Nelson Mandela
#74. I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope.
Nelson Mandela
#75. One of the things that made me long to be back in prison was that I had so little opportunity for reading, thinking and quiet reflection after my release. I intend, amongst other things, to give myself much more opportunity for such reading and reflection.
Nelson Mandela
#76. 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.
Nelson Mandela
#78. Apart from life, a strong constitution, and an abiding connection to the Thembu royal house, the only thing my father bestowed upon me at birth was a name, Rolihlahla.
Nelson Mandela
#79. There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
Nelson Mandela
#81. We recall the joy and excitement of a nation that had found itself, the collective relief that we had stepped out of our restrictive past, and the expectant air of walking into a brighter future.
Nelson Mandela
#82. The Commonwealth makes the world safe for diversity
Nelson Mandela
#83. Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs.
Nelson Mandela
#84. The importance of a high moral code, which is at the foundation of the Scout movement, cannot be stressed too highly.
Nelson Mandela
#85. Tread softly,
Brathe peacefully,
Laugh hysterically.
Nelson Mandela
#86. To truly lead one's people, one must also truly know them.
Nelson Mandela
#87. I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife.
Nelson Mandela
#88. If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace.
Nelson Mandela
#89. There must be an end to white monopoly on political power, and a fundamental restructuring of our political and economic systems to ensure that the inequalities of apartheid are addressed and our society thoroughly democratized.
Nelson Mandela
#90. The curious beauty of African music is that it uplifts even as it tells a sad tale. You may be poor, you may have only a ramshackle house, you may have lost your job, but that song gives you hope.
Nelson Mandela
#91. Only 50 years ago persons with intellectual disabilities were scorned, isolated and neglected. Today, they are able to attend school, become employed and assimilate into their local community.
Nelson Mandela
#92. No problem is so deep that it cannot be overcome, given the will of all parties, through discussion and negotiation rather than force and violence.
Nelson Mandela
#93. Freedom can never be taken for granted. Each generation must safeguard it and extend it. Your parents and elders sacrificed much so that you should have freedom without suffering what they did. Use this precious right to ensure that the darkness of the past never return.
Nelson Mandela
#94. Men have different capacities and react differently to stress. But the stronger ones raised up the weaker ones, and both became stronger in the process.
Nelson Mandela
#95. If you want to preach a revolutionary message, wear a suit.
Nelson Mandela
#96. As a leader, one must sometimes take actions that are unpopular, or whose results will not be known for years to come.
Nelson Mandela
#97. Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.
Nelson Mandela
#98. No single person can liberate a country. You can only liberate a country if you act as a collective.
Nelson Mandela
#99. Individuals get caught up in the policy of their country. In prison, for instance, a warden or officer is not promoted if he doesn't follow the policy of the government - though he himself does not believe in that policy.
Nelson Mandela
#100. We fought injustice wherever we found it, no matter how large, or how small, and we fought injustice to preserve our own humanity.
Nelson Mandela
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