Nelson Mandela Quotes - 39 quotes

Share

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) was a revolutionary anti-apartheid leader and the first Black president of South Africa. He is celebrated for his role in ending the apartheid regime and establishing a multiracial democracy in South Africa. He was born on July 18, 1918, in Mvezo, South Africa. ... show more

quote icon A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon 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

Share

quote icon I have always believed that exercise is the key not only to physical health but to peace of mind.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon When the history of our times is written, will we be remembered as the generation that turned our backs in a moment of global crisis or will it be recorded that we did the right thing?

- Nelson Mandela

Share

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

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon I never lose. I either win or I learn.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon 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 farmworkers 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

Share

quote icon I did not enjoy the violence of boxing so much as the science of it. I was intrigued by how one moved one's body to protect oneself, how one used a strategy both to attack and retreat, how one paced oneself over a match.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both. Some say that has now been achieved. But I know that that is not the case. The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. 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.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon 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

Share

quote icon He said, "I want to find God, and because I want to find God, I have to find God along with other people. I don't believe I can find God alone. If I did, I would be running to the Himalayas to find God in some cave there. But since I believe that nobody can find God alone, I have to work with people. I have to take them with me. Alone I can't come to Him."

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon No one is born hating another person because of the colour 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

Share

quote icon 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

Share

quote icon 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.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon Gandhi remained committed to nonviolence; I followed the Gandhian strategy for as long as I could, but then there came a point in our struggle when the brute force of the oppressor could no longer be countered through passive resistance alone. We founded Umkhonto we Sizwe and added a military dimension to our struggle. Even then, we chose sabotage because it did not involve the loss of life, and it offered the best hope for future race relations. Militant action became part of the African agenda officially supported by the Organization of African Unity (O.A.U.) following my address to the Pan-African Freedom Movement of East and Central Africa (PAFMECA) in 1962, in which I stated, "Force is the only language the imperialists can hear, and no country became free without some sort of violence."

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon He exposes the fallacy of the claim that everyone can be rich and successful provided they work hard. He points to the millions who work themselves to the bone and still remain hungry.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon Difficulties break some men but make others

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be free from state interference. It must have the economic strength to stand up to the blandishments of government officials. It must have sufficient independence from vested interests to be bold and inquiring without fear or favour. It must enjoy the protection of the constitution, so that it can protect our rights as citizens.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon 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

Share

quote icon 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 love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon In my country we go to prison first and then become President.

- Nelson Mandela

Share

quote icon May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.

- Nelson Mandela

Missing Reference

Share

quote icon “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

- Nelson Mandela

Missing Reference

Share

quote icon 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.

- Nelson Mandela

Missing Reference

Share

quote icon “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

Missing Reference

Share

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

- Nelson Mandela

Missing Reference

Share

quote icon It always seems impossible until it's done.

- Nelson Mandela

Missing Reference

Share