Nelson Mandela Quotes

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

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.

It always seems impossible until it’s done.

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 is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.

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

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

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.

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

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

Nelson Mandela Quotes part 2

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

It is said that 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.

As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity, or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.

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.

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?

We have fought for the right to exist. We have every right to fight for equality as well.

No single person can liberate a country. You can only liberate a country if you act as a collective.

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.

The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The time to build is upon us.

A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.

Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.

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

I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.

We are all tied to our history, whether we like it or not.

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

The habit of attending to small things and of appreciating small courtesies is one of the important marks of a good person.

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

Poverty is not natural, it is man-made.

Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.

Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.

The world remains beset by so much human suffering, poverty, and deprivation. It is in your hands to make a difference.

The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children.

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

A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.

One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.

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

Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely daydreaming, but vision with action can change the world.

Difficulties break some men but make others.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.

Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.

What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.