Nelson Mandela Quotes

262 Sourced Quotes

To be father of a nation is a great honour, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy.

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

Nelson Mandela
In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.

Nelson Mandela
I have always endeavoured to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion.

Nelson Mandela
Gandhi rejects the Adam Smith notion of human nature as motivated by self-interest and brute needs and returns us to our spiritual dimension with its impulses for nonviolence, justice and equality.
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
We stand here today as nothing more than a representative of the millions of our people who dared to rise up against a social system whose very essence is war, violence, racism, oppression, repression and the impoverishment of an entire people.

Nelson Mandela
Sometimes, I feel like one who is on the sidelines, who has missed life itself.

Nelson Mandela
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
Between the anvil of united mass action and the hammer of the armed struggle we shall crush apartheid and white minority racist rule.

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

Nelson Mandela
We must work together to ensure the equitable distribution of wealth, opportunity and power in our society.

Nelson Mandela
Young people are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom.

Nelson Mandela
I could not imagine that the future I was walking toward could compare in any way to the past that I was leaving behind.

Nelson Mandela
I am also here today as a representative of the millions of people across the globe, the anti-apartheid movement, the governments and organisations that joined with us, not to fight against South Africa as a country or any of its peoples, but to oppose an inhuman system and sue for a speedy end to the apartheid crime against humanity.
These countless human beings, both inside and outside our country, had the nobility of spirit to stand in the path of tyranny and injustice, without seeking selfish gain. They recognised that an injury to one is an injury to all and therefore acted together in defense of justice and a common human decency.

Nelson Mandela
If I am asked, by credible organizations, to mediate, I will consider that very seriously. But a situation of this nature does not need an individual, it needs an organization like the United Nations to mediate.
We must understand the seriousness of this situation. The United States has made serious mistakes in the conduct of its foreign affairs, which have had unfortunate repercussions long after the decisions were taken.

Nelson Mandela
Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Distinguished Guests, Comrades and Friends. Today, all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in other parts of our country and the world, confer glory and hope to newborn liberty. Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud.

Nelson Mandela
A bright future beckons. The onus is on us, through hard work, honesty and integrity, to reach for the stars.

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

Nelson Mandela
This is one of the most important moments in the life of our country. I stand here before you filled with deep pride and joy: — pride in the ordinary, humble people of this country. You have shown such a calm, patient determination to reclaim this country as your own, - and joy that we can loudly proclaim from the rooftops — free at last!

Nelson Mandela
I and some colleagues came to the conclusion that as violence in this country was inevitable, it would be wrong and unrealistic for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force. It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle.

Nelson Mandela