Nelson Mandela famous quotes

Fools multiply when wise men are silent.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Wise #Men #Fool

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

#Dream #Children #Men

The power of imagination created the illusion that my vision went much farther than the naked eye could actually see.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Eye #Imagination #Vision

It is necessary to heal the wounds of the past If you are going to build your country and to have unity. I am working with people who fought me very bitterly before the elections. It was my responsibility as the man who is leading the majority party, my responsibility to heal the wounds of the past and to work with people who were my opponents.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Country #Party #Responsibility

Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Inspirational #Country #Rest In Peace

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

#Teaching #Fighting #White

I like a leader who can, while pointing out a mistake, bring up the good things the other person has done. If you do that, then the person sees that you have a complete picture of him. There is nobody more dangerous than one who has been humiliated, even when you humiliate him rightly.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Leadership #Mistake #Done

The laws that stopped blacks from voting were the worst, because they prevented blacks from voting someone into parliament who could change the other laws. Even though the blacks were the majority of the population, they were still not getting a say.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Law #Voting #Majority

I learned to have the patience to listen when people put forward their views, even if I think those views are wrong. You can't reach a just decision in a dispute unless you listen to both sides.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Thinking #Views #People

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

#Hunger #Prison #Oppression

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.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Leadership #Ideas #Knowing

There are so many men and women who hold no distinctive positions but whose contribution towards the development of society has been enormous. Some of them are not known even in their own countries, but when you come across them you are very impressed. Those are heroes or heroines we must never forget. Because of their service to society, you can't really help but admire them.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Country #Hero #Men

We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Differences #Hands #Making A Difference

The question of crime is one of concern to everybody. But the position is that the security forces in our country for the last four decades did not concentrate on suppressing crime. Their main objective was to suppress, to crush political activity. And in the process, crime grew to unacceptable proportions. And criminals were able to form powerful syndicates, and they virtually took over the control of the life of the community in certain areas.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Crush #Country #Powerful

People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Best Love #Hate #Love Is

The message of reconciliation, of nation-building, of granting amnesty, indemnity, has struck a powerful, favorable chord. And people can understand that we're here not for purposes of retribution but to forget the past and to build our country.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Country #Powerful #Past

It is so easy to break down and destroy. The heroes are those who make peace and build.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Hero #Down And #Breaking Down

Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth, those who care for and protect our people.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Country #Children #Rocks

It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Hands #World

A society that does not value its older people denies its roots and endangers its future. Let us strive to enhance their capacity to support themselves for as long as possible and, when they cannot do so anymore, to care for them.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Roots #People #Long

Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Inspiration #Remember #Celebrate

AIDS is no longer just a disease, it is a human rights issue.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Issues #Rights #Disease

Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I feel down and got back up again.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Inspiring #Judging #Down And

No matter what the past has dealt you, don't let it destroy your future.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Positive Thinking #Past #Matter

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

#Inspiring #Leadership #Views

Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished
-- Nelson Mandela

#Giving Up #Men #Flames

A new world will be won not by those who stand at a distance with their arms folded, but by those who are in the arena, whose garments are torn by storms and whose bodies are maimed in the course of the contest.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Distance #Storm #Body

Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Men #Justice #Slavery

Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Daughter #Children #Son

One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Change #Inspiring #Leadership

To a freedom fighter hope is what a lifebelt is to a swimmer - a guarantee that one will keep afloat and free from danger.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Guarantees #Fighter #Swimmer

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

#Independent #Mind #Problem

We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Inspiring #Palestinian #Wells

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Inspirational #Life #Motivational

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

#Dog #People #Shelter

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 returns.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Taken #Past #Parent

The very right to be human is denied every day to hundreds of millions of people as a result of poverty, the unavailability of basic necessities such as food, jobs, water and shelter, education, health care and a healthy environment.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Jobs #Water #People

To the youth of today, I also have a wish to make: be the scriptwriters of your destiny and feature yourselves as stars that showed the way towards a brighter future.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Stars #Destiny #Wish

Blaming things on the past does not make them better.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Past #Doe #Blame

The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Children #Character #Treats

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

#Inspirational #Leadership #Believe

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

#Inspiring #Beautiful #Land

It is music and dancing that make me at peace with the world.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Dancing #World

It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Inspiring #Self Actualization #Given

Let it never be said by future generations that indifference, cynicism or selfishness made us fail to live up to the ideals of humanism which the Nobel Peace Prize encapsulates. Let the strivings of us all, prove Martin Luther King Jr. to have been correct, when he said that humanity can no longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Kings #Selfish #War

Let us remind ourselves that our work is far from complete. Where there is poverty and sickness, including AIDS, where human beings are being oppressed, there is more work to be done. Our work is for freedom for all...
-- Nelson Mandela

#Done #Poverty #Sickness

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

#Party #Violence #Overcoming

Honour belongs to those who never forsake the truth even when things seem dark and grim, who try over and over again, who are never discouraged by insults, humiliation and even defeat.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Dark #Trying #Insult

We should never forget those on whose shoulders we stand and those who paid the supreme price for freedom.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Never Forget #Forget #Shoulders

Even behind prison walls I can see the heavy clouds and the blue sky over the horizon
-- Nelson Mandela

#Wall #Blue #Sky

Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life . . .
-- Nelson Mandela

#Justice #Fundamentals #Charity

As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Our World #Long #Poverty

There is little favorable to be said about poverty, but it was often an incubator of true friendship. Many people will appear to befriend you when you are wealthy, but precious few will do the same when you are poor. If wealth is a magnet, poverty is a kind of repellent. Yet, poverty often brings out the true generosity in others.
-- Nelson Mandela

#True Friend #People #Generosity

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.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Inspirational #Inspiring #Courage

If our expectations, if our fondest prayers and dreams, are not realized then we should all bear in mind that the greatest glory of living lies not in never falling but in rising every time you fall.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Dream #Prayer #Lying

I approach every problem with optimism.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Optimism #Problem #Approach

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

#Sacrifice #Men #Office

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

#Inspirational #Motivational #Inspiring

May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Inspirational #New Year #Daughter

We signal that good can be achieved amongst human beings who are prepared to trust, prepared to believe in the goodness of people.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Believe #People #Goodness

For every woman and girl violently attacked, we reduce our humanity. For every woman forced into unprotected sex because men demand this, we destroy dignity and pride. Every woman who has to sell her life for sex we condemn to a lifetime in prison. For every moment we remain silent, we conspire against our women. For every woman infected by HIV, we destroy a generation.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Girl #Sex #Pride

I have often wondered whether a person is justified in neglecting his own family to fight for opportunities for others.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Fighting #Opportunity #Justified

Educating all of our children must be one of our most urgent priorities. We all know that education, more than anything else, improves our chances of building better lives.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Children #Priorities #Chance

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.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Running #Country #Discipline

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

#Simple #Garden #Earth

We need to exert ourselves that much more, and break out of the vicious cycle of dependence imposed on us by the financially powerful: those in command of immense market power and those who dare to fashion the world in their own image.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Fashion #Powerful #Needs

Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Forgiveness #Men #Glasses

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.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Beautiful #Blessed #Thinking

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

#Father #Joy #Honor

When you are behind bars with no hope of release, you need to find strength wherever you can. Personally, I found strength in Michael Jackson.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Needs #Bars #Finding Strength

One of the most difficult things is not to change society - but to change yourself.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Change #Change Yourself #Difficult

Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Sports #Powerful #Government

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

#Country #Race #Tribes

I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Names #Democracy

You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Impact #Society #Changed

I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Positive #Hate #Fighting

Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Children #Safety #Society

I want to sleep for eternity with a broad smile on my face. I want those who remain behind to say this man has done his duty.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Sleep #Men #Done

The best weapon is to sit down and talk.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Peace #Weapons #Down And

If you want to change the world, help the women.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Want #World #Changing The World

It only seems impossible until it's done.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Inspiring #Done #Impossible

A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Independent #Long #Community

Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Independent #Passionate #Rise Above

It enables me to go to bed with an enriching feeling in my soul and the belief that I am changing myself.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Soul #Feelings #Bed

What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Leadership #Differences #Generosity

A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle,and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor.At a point, one can only fight fire with fire
-- Nelson Mandela

#Struggle #Fighting #Mirrors

The time is always right to do right
-- Nelson Mandela

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

#Justice #Gestures #Poverty

To truly lead one's people, one must also truly know them.
-- Nelson Mandela

#People

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

#Life #Heart #Opposites

I was called a terrorist yesterday... Today I am admired by the very people who said I was one.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Yesterday #People #Today

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

#Positive #Sunshine #Men

Thinking too well of people often allows them to be better than they otherwise would.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Encouraging #Thinking #People

Our experience has taught us that with goodwill a negotiated solution can be found for even the most profound problems.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Profound #Taught #Problem

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

#Thinking #Lost

It is the dictate of history to bring to the fore the kind of leaders who seize the moment, who cohere the wishes and aspirations of the oppressed. Such was Steve Biko, a fitting product of his time; a proud representative of the re-awakening of a people.
-- Nelson Mandela

#People #Leader #Wish

The world remains beset by so much human suffering, poverty and deprivation. It is in your hands to make of our world a better one for all, especially the poor, vulnerable and marginalized.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Our World #Hands #Suffering

The history of struggle is rich with stories of heroes and heroines - some of them leaders, some of them followers, all of them deserve to be remembered.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Hero #Struggle #Leader

The most difficult matter is not so much to change the world as yourself.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Matter #World #Changing The World

We tried in our simple way to lead our life in a manner that may make a difference to those of others.
-- Nelson Mandela

#Inspiring #Simple #Differences