Nelson Mandela

Quotes

• “I must deal immediately and at some length with the question of violence. Some of the things so far told to the Court ar...”
• “He was not a bust made of marble; he was a man of flesh and blood - a son and a husband, a father and a friend. And that...”
• “Bush is now undermining the United Nations. He is acting outside it, not withstanding the fact that the United Nations w...”
• “Tomorrow, the entire ANC leadership and I will be back at our desks. We are rolling up our sleeves to begin tackling the...”
• “I remember we adjourned for lunch and a friendly Afrikaner warder asked me the question, "Mandela, what do you think is ...”
• “When in 1977, the United Nations passed the resolution inaugurating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palesti...”
• “A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be free from state int...”
• “If I am asked, by credible organizations, to mediate, I will consider that very seriously. But a situation of this natur...”
• “In Natal, apartheid is a deadly cancer in our midst, setting house against house, and eating away at the precious ties t...”
• “A man does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards, but when I was notified that I had won the 1993 N...”
• “I've also got an autographed copy of Nelson Mandela's "Conversations With Myself." It's a collection of his writings and...”
• “We have long wanted to visit your country and express the many feelings that we have about the Cuban revolution, about t...”
• “I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it...”
• “Gandhi rejects the Adam Smith notion of human nature as motivated by self-interest and brute needs and returns us to our...”
• “The three centuries of contact between the peoples of Africa, Europe and Asia on these shores have for too long been reg...”
• “There are thousands of people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and non-violence -...”
• “It is hard to eulogize any man - to capture in words not just the facts and the dates that make a life, but the essentia...”
• “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white dominatio...”
• “Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Distinguished Guests, Comrades and Friends. Today, all of us do, by our presence here, ...”
• “Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become...”
• “You will notice that France, Germany, Russia, China are against this decision. It is clearly a decision that is motivate...”
• “All nations have iconic historical figures on whom they draw for inspiration and strength at times of national crisis. W...”
• “Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity's b...”
• “I must say that when we wanted to take up arms we approached numerous Western governments for assistance and we were nev...”
• “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions ...”
• “I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that...”
• “The Gandhian influence dominated freedom struggles on the African continent right up to the 1960s because of the power i...”
• “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is kee...”
• “We thank all our distinguished international guests for having come to take possession with the people of our country of...”
• “Friends, Comrades and fellow South Africans. I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all. I stan...”
• “Ethiopia has always held a special place in my own imagination and the prospect of visiting attracted me more strongly t...”
• “I simply don't understand why the Nobel academy gave him a peace prize or why Charlie Dimmock and Alan Titchmarsh gave h...”
• “It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well to show that you must trust others so th...”
• “Because of their courage and persistence for many years, we can, today, even set the dates when all humanity will join t...”
• “We are deeply concerned, both in our country and here, of the very large number of dropouts by schoolchildren. This is a...”
• “The majority of South Africans, black and white, recognize that apartheid has no future. It has to be ended by our own d...”
• “Sometimes misattributed to Mandela, this is in fact an a statement of unknown provenance (usually attributed to an anony...”
• “Gandhi himself never ruled out violence absolutely and unreservedly. He conceded the necessity of arms in certain situat...”
• “As a movement we recognise the legitimacy of Palestinian nationalism just as we recognise the legitimacy of Zionism as a...”
• “I have come to join you today to add our own voice to the universal call for Palestinian self-determination and statehoo...”
• “Perhaps it was history that ordained that it be here, at the Cape of Good Hope that we should lay the foundation stone o...”
• “Nelson Mandela on equaliy, From a letter to General Du Preez, Commissioner of Prisons, Written on Robben Island, Cape To...”
• “Nelson Mandela on humour, From an interview with Tim Couzens, Verne Harris and Mac Maharay for Mandela: The Authorized P...”
• “Speech, Madison Park High School, Boston, 23 June 1990; Partly cited in Remembering Nelson Mandela's Visit To Roxbury at...”
• “I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife. Bu...”
• “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another...”
• “Nelson Mandela on life, 90th Birthday celebration of Walter Sisulu, Walter Sisulu Hall, Randburg, Johannesburg, South Af...”
• “We consider ourselves to be comrades in arms to the Palestinian Arabs in their struggle for the liberation of Palestine....”
• “Nelson Mandela on integrity, At the British Red Cross Humanity Lecture, Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre, London, Engla...”
• “The names of those who were incarcerated on Robben Island is a roll call of resistance fighters and democrats spanning o...”