Nelson Mandela
139 quotes
Biography
"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 will not leave South Africa, nor will I surrender. Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant action can freedom be won. The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days."
"When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw."
"I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
"I cannot say for certain if there is such a thing as love at first sight, but I do know that the moment I first glimpsed Winnie Nomzamo, I knew that I wanted to have her as my wife."
"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."
"A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special."
"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."
"Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will."
"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."
"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."
"I am the captain of my soul."
"A winner is a dreamer who never gives up"
"Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening."
"Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me."
"May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears."
"I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope."
"Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation"
"I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE AND THE CAPTAIN OF MY DESTINY."
"I started to make a study of the art of war and revolution and, whilst abroad, underwent a course in military training. If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them."
"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
"And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."
"There are thousands of people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and non-violence — against a government whose only reply is savage attacks on an unarmed and defenceless people. And I think the time has come for us to consider, in the light of our experiences at this day at home, whether the methods which we have applied so far are adequate."
"Ethiopia has always held a special place in my own imagination and the prospect of visiting attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an African. Meeting the emperor himself would be like shaking hands with history."
"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."