Nelson Mandela Quotes

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

"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."

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."

"It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership."

"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

"Without education, your children can never really meet the challenges they will face. So it's very important to give children education and explain that they should play a role for their country."

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children."

"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."

"Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another."

"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."

"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."

"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."

"If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner."

"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 defenseless people."

"A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don't have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed."

"I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself."

"Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace."

"To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity."

"I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists."

"There is no such thing as part freedom."

"Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will."

"It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea."

"If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness."

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

"After one has been in prison, it is the small things that one appreciates: being able to take a walk whenever one wants, going into a shop and buying a newspaper, speaking or choosing to remain silent. The simple act of being able to control one's person."

"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?"

"Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all."

"Running taught me valuable lessons. In cross-country competition, training counted more than intrinsic ability, and I could compensate for a lack of natural aptitude with diligence and discipline. I applied this in everything I did."