Quotes By Nelson Mandela

Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.

In my country we go to prison first and then become President.

My son has died of AIDS.

I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.

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

Nonviolence is a good policy when the conditions permit.

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.

The titanic effort that has brought liberation to South Africa, and ensured the total liberation of Africa, constitutes an act of redemption for the black people of the world.

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

I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.

Let us give publicity to H.I.V./AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died because of H.I.V./AIDS, and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary.

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.

In countries where innocent people are dying, the leaders are following their blood rather than their brains.

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.

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