Nelson Mandela Quotes

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Lead from the back and let others believe they are in front.

A winner is a dreamer who never gives up

I never lose. Either I win or learn.

Give a child love, laughter and peace, not AIDS.

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

Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.

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

It always seems impossible until it's done.

Intervention only works when the people concerned seem to be keen for peace.

May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.

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

Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation

Some men, under the pressure of incarceration, showed true mettle, while others revealed themselves as less than what they had appeared to be.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE AND THE CAPTAIN OF MY DESTINY.

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

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.

I should tie myself to no particular system of society other than of socialism.

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

Our single most important challenge is therefore to help establish a social order in which the freedom of the individual will truly mean the freedom of the individual.

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

I am confident that nobody... will accuse me of selfishness if I ask to spend time, while I am still in good health, with my family, my friends and also with myself.

When I came to Johannesburg from the countryside, I knew nobody, but many strangers were very kind to me. I then was dragged into politics, and then, subsequently, I became a lawyer.

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

There is no such thing as part freedom.

It reaffirmed my long-held belief that education was the enemy of prejudice. These were men and women of science, and science had no room for racism.

There is nothing I fear more than waking up without a program that will help me bring a little happiness to those with no resources, those who are poor, illiterate, and ridden with terminal disease.

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.

A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it's lowest ones

Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.

This document [the Reconstruction and Development Programme] was translated into a simpler manifesto called 'A Better Life for All', which in turn became the ANC's campaign slogan.

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.

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

It is not my ambition to marry a white woman or swim in a white pool. It is political equality that we want.

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

I loved it in the unconditional way that children love their first home.

Where you stand depends on where you sit.

A leader. . .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.

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

We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.

Lead from the front — but don t leave your base behind.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.

If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don't ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers.