Quotes By Nelson Mandela

Any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.

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.

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.

Leaders in all spheres who are living with HIV should be encouraged, not coerced, to lead by example and disclose their HIV status.

It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea.

By ancestry, I was born to rule.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Unlike some politicians, I can admit to a mistake.

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.

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?

I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites.

I can't pretend that I'm brave and that I can beat the whole world.

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

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

I made a mistake by being ejected from the presidency. Next time, I will choose a Cabinet which will allow me to be life President.

We can't afford to be killing one another.

Africans require, want, the franchise on the basis of one man one vote. They want political independence.

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.

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

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.

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

I cannot conceive of Israel withdrawing if Arab states do not recognize Israel, within secure borders.

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

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

I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses.

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