Nelson Mandela Quotes

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.

You know, you can only lead them from behind.

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.

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.

Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.

I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.

I have retired, but if there’s anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.

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.

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

I came across few whites as a boy at Qunu. The local magistrate, of course, was white, as was the nearest shopkeeper. Occasionally, white travelers or policemen passed through our area. These whites appeared as grand as gods to me, and I was aware that they were to be treated with a mixture of fear and respect.

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

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

I have always regarded myself, in the first place, as an African patriot.

Communists have always played an active role in the fight by colonial countries for their freedom, because the short-term objects of Communism would always correspond with the long-term objects of freedom movements.

Before I went to jail, I was active in politics as a member of South Africa’s leading organization – and I was generally busy from 7 A.M. until midnight. I never had time to sit and think.

Especially for those of us who lived in single cells, you had the time to sit down and think, and we discovered that sitting down just to think is one of the best ways of keeping yourself fresh and able, to be able to address the problems facing you, and you had the opportunity, also, of examining your past.

When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.