Top 100 Mandela Nelson Quotes
#1. 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
#2. 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.'
Nelson Mandela
#3. 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
#4. I admire young people who are concerned with the affairs of their community and nation perhaps because I also became involved in struggle whist I was still at school.
Nelson Mandela
#6. The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children.
Nelson Mandela
#7. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
Nelson Mandela
#8. 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
#9. 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
#10. In my country we go to prison first and then become President.
Nelson Mandela
#11. The world has lost a visionary leader, a courageous voice for justice, and a clear moral compass. By showing us that the path to freedom and human dignity lies in love, wisdom and compassion for one another, Nelson Mandela stands as an inspiration to us all.
Kofi Annan
#12. 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
#13. The Good News borne by our risen Messiah who chose not one race, who chose not one country, who chose not one language, who chose not one tribe, who chose all of humankind!
Nelson Mandela
#14. Our rich and varied cultural heritage has a
profound power to help build our nation
Nelson Mandela
#16. It is your duty to examine the conduct of public figures and to place them in the spotlight - that is your duty.
Nelson Mandela
#17. Only free men can negotiate,prisoners can't enter in contracts
Nelson Mandela
#18. We now undertake that we cannot rest while millions of our people suffer the pain and indignity of poverty in all its forms.
Nelson Mandela
#19. One of them would definitely be the Nelson Mandela gig, when I played the tribute song for him. He was up and dancing, and he really enjoyed it. It was a really lovely occasion.
Joan Armatrading
#20. Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I feel down and got back up again.
Nelson Mandela
#21. 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
#23. 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
#24. Abject poverty is demeaning, is an assault on the dignity of those that suffer it. In the end it demeans us all. It makes the freedom of all of us less meaningful.
Nelson Mandela
#25. I can't help it if the ladies take note of me; I am not going to protest.
Nelson Mandela
#26. I looked into the vast dome of blue emptiness that stretched out above me in all directions and the illusion was still there, the size and speed, and what information they were sending to mother earth.
Nelson Mandela
#27. The suffering inflicted, and more often than not on the most vulnerable sectors of society, demeans all of us as humanity. That it is invariably women, children, the aged and disabled who suffer in these conflicts stands to the added shame of humankind.
Nelson Mandela
#28. Since the dawn of history, mankind has honoured and respected brave and honest people.
Nelson Mandela
#29. The victory of democracy in South Africa is the common achievement of all humanity.
Nelson Mandela
#30. Why don't we have people like Thich Nhat Hanh or Marshall Rosenberg and Nelson Mandela solving violent situations in a peaceful way?
Sandra Cisneros
#31. I would say that as our struggles mature, they produce new ideas, new issues, and new terrains on which we engage in the quest for freedom. Like Nelson Mandela, we must be willing to embrace the long walk toward freedom.
Angela Y. Davis
#32. Young people are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom.
Nelson Mandela
#33. 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
#34. To be the father of a nation is a great honor, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy.
Nelson Mandela
#35. Force is the only language the imperialists can hear, and no country became free without some sort of violence.
Nelson Mandela
#36. It is time for the next generations to continue our struggle against social injustice and for the rights of humanity. It is in your hands.
Nelson Mandela
#37. Of all the many leaders I have met in the course of my life, none made a deeper impression on me than Nelson Mandela. His courage, compassion, humility and wisdom were without parallel on the world stage, and he himself was an enduring source of inspiration.
Klaus Schwab
#38. I cannot say for certain if there is such a thing as love at first sight, but I do know that the moment I first glimpsed Winnie Nomzamo, I knew that I wanted to have her as my wife.
Nelson Mandela
#39. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.
Nelson Mandela
#40. Israel should withdraw from all the areas which it won from the Arabs in 1967, and in particular Israel should withdraw completely from the Golan Heights, from south Lebanon and from the West Bank.
Nelson Mandela
#41. Crime must be brought under control ... Freedom without civility, freedom without the ability to live in peace, was not true freedom at all.
Nelson Mandela
#42. I would wear the blue overalls of the fieldworker and often wore round, rimless glasses known as Mazzawati teaglasses. I had a car, and I wore a chauffeur's cap with my overalls. The pose of chauffeur was convenient because I could travel under the pretext of driving my master's car.
Nelson Mandela
#43. Intervention only works when the people concerned seem to be keen for peace.
Nelson Mandela
#44. Blaming things on the past does not make them better.
Nelson Mandela
#45. The freedom we enjoy is a richly textured gift handcrafted by ordinary folk
Nelson Mandela
#46. We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.
Nelson Mandela
#47. There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty.
Nelson Mandela
#48. I will not leave South Africa, nor will I surrender. Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant action can freedom be won. The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.
Nelson Mandela
#49. It is not beyond our power to create a world in which all children have access to a good education.
Nelson Mandela
#50. Very sad to hear about the passing of Nelson Mandela. He was a true inspiration for human rights and equality for South Africa and the reason apartheid no longer exists there. The world will never forget his capacity for forgiveness and magnanimity. RIP
Bryan Adams
#51. Peace is not just the absence of conflict; peace is the creation of an environment where all can flourish regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, class, caste or any other social markers of difference.
Nelson Mandela
#52. A garden was one of the few thing in prison that one could control. To plant a seed, watch it grow, to tend it then harvest it, offered a simple but enduring satisfaction. The sense of being the custodian of this small patch of earth offered a taste of freedom.
Nelson Mandela
#53. Our continent must be allowed to do its own things, charting its course and destiny.
Nelson Mandela
#54. I knew we could improve our lives even in jail. We could come out as different men, and we could even come out with two degrees. Educating ourselves was a way to give ourselves the most powerful weapon for freedom.
Nelson Mandela
#55. We must look within ourselves, become responsible and provide fresh solutions if we ever want to do more than complain,or make excuses.
Nelson Mandela
#56. As president, I watched in wonder as Nelson Mandela had the remarkable capacity to forgive his jailers following 26 years of wrongful imprisonment - setting a powerful example of redemption and grace for us all.
George H. W. Bush
#57. We know what needs to be done
all that is missing is the will to do it,
Nelson Mandela
#58. Our task is not to liberate the oppressed, but to liberate the oppressors
Nelson Mandela
#59. Music is a great blessing. It has the power to elevate and liberate us. It sets people free to dream. It can unite us to sing with one voice. Such is the value of music.
Nelson Mandela
#60. Trade justice for the developing world and for this generation is a truly significant way for the developed countries to show commitment to bringing about an end to global poverty.
Nelson Mandela
#61. She married a man who soon left her; that man became a myth; and then that myth returned home and proved to be just a man after all.
Nelson Mandela
#62. Each of us, as citizens, has a role to play in creating a better world for our children
Nelson Mandela
#63. Why is it that in this courtroom I face a white magistrate, am confronted by a white prosecutor and escorted into the dock by a white orderly? Can anyone honestly and seriously suggest that in this type of atmosphere the scales of justice are evenly balanced?
Nelson Mandela
#64. We can build a society grounded on friendship and our common humanity - a society founded on tolerance. That is the only road open to us.
Nelson Mandela
#65. Our freedom is also incomplete, dear compatriots, as long as we are denied our security by criminals who prey on our communities, who rob our businesses and undermine our economy, who ply their destructive trade in drugs in our schools, and who do violence against our women and children.
Nelson Mandela
#66. We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know:
That South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people.
Nelson Mandela
#67. Whenever anybody called Nelson Mandela a saint, he would say: "If by saint you mean a sinner who is trying to be better, then I'm a saint."
Kumi Naidoo
#68. 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.
Nelson Mandela
#69. We have laid the foundation for a better life. Things that were unimaginable a few years ago have become everyday reality. I belong to the generation of leaders for whom the achievement of democracy was the defining challenge.
Nelson Mandela
#70. It was a useful reminder that all men, even the most seemingly cold-blooded, have a core of decency, and that if their heart is touched, they are capable of changing.
Nelson Mandela
#71. The leaders who we admire who have been able to bring great change in the past - Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela - they're all inspirational religious leaders and smart tacticians. It would be nice to find the Muslim Gandhi, wouldn't it?
Dennis C. Blair
#72. I came to accept that I have no right whatsoever to judge others in terms of my own customs, however much I may be proud of such customs.
Nelson Mandela
#73. Keep your friends close - and your rivals even closer.
Nelson Mandela
#74. It is not the kings and generals that make history, but the masses of the people.
Nelson Mandela
#75. Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity's belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul, and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all.
Nelson Mandela
#76. I realized that they could take everything from me except my mind and my heart. They could not take those things. Those things I still had control over. And I decided not to give them away.
Nelson Mandela
#77. Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.
Nelson Mandela
#79. If I preached unity, I must act like a unifier, even at the risk of perhaps alienating some of my own colleagues.
Nelson Mandela
#80. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.
Nelson Mandela
#81. A lot of controversy over this possible invasion of Iraq. In fact, Nelson Mandela was so upset, he called Bush's dad. How embarrassing, when world leaders start calling your father.
Jay Leno
#82. I was first imprisoned in Pretoria, and then, thereafter, I was taken to Robben Island. I stayed there for a couple of weeks. I was taken back to Pretoria when I was charged in the Rivonia trial, when I was then sent to Robben Island for life.
Nelson Mandela
#83. We have a revolutionary history to honor and uphold. Which was what Nelson Mandela did. He reminded us of that which we need to be reminded, over and over again, about our own best selves.
Charlie Pierce
#84. As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
Nelson Mandela
#85. You see, when there is danger, a good leader takes the front line. But when there is celebration, a good leader stays in the back room. If you want the cooperation of human beings around you, make them feel that they are important. And you do that by being humble.
Nelson Mandela
#86. 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
#87. Let us remind ourselves that it is ordinary people - men and women, boys and girls - that make the world a special place
Nelson Mandela
#88. Nelson Mandela and myself had a wonderful relationship - he was a special man and will be missed.
Donald Trump
#89. For a revolution is not just a question of pulling a trigger; its purpose is to create a fair just society
Nelson Mandela
#90. The relations between a man and his or her god is a personal matter; you can't go out and challenge the belief of people in a superior being.
Nelson Mandela
#91. Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die.
Nelson Mandela
#92. One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.
Nelson Mandela
#93. It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success.
Nelson Mandela
#95. Press Freedom will never be under threat in South Africa for as long as the ANC is the majority party
Nelson Mandela
#96. There were only 3 people that I wanted to meet in life, Nelson Mandela was one of them. What a life, what a journey, what a man. Thank you for passing this way! God bless your resting soul!
Tyler Perry
#97. Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future. -Nelson Mandela
Michael Gallegos Borresen
#98. Democracy is based on the majority principle. This is especially true in a country such as ours where the vast majority have been systematically denied their rights. At the same time, democracy also requires that the rights of political and other minorities be safeguarded.
Nelson Mandela
#99. A new society cannot be created by reproducing the repugnant past, however refined or enticingly repackaged.
Nelson Mandela
#100. Having resentment against someone is like drinking poison and thinking it will kill your enemy.
Nelson Mandela
