Quotes from Nelson Mandela

It was a useful reminder that all men, even the most seemingly cold-blooded, have a core of decency, and that if their heart is touched, they are capable of changing.

For a revolution is not just a question of pulling a trigger; its purpose is to create a fair just society

Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.

As a leader, one must sometimes take actions that are unpopular, or whose results will not be known for years to come.

Resentment is a method of self harm. "As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

We forgive but not forgotten

Like the gardener, a leader must take responsibility for what he cultivates; he must mind his work, try to repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved, and eliminate what cannot succeed.

He knew when to compromise. Yet he never compromised his principles. He was a militant. Yet a militant who knew how to plan, assess concrete situations and emerge with rational solutions to problems.

Although I am a gregarious person, I love solitude even more.

Fools multiply when wise men are silent.

Having resentment against someone is like drinking poison and thinking it will kill your enemy.

It is most unusual to return to a place that has changed in ways you yourself have altered.

It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.

I realized that they could take everything from me except my mind and my heart. They could not take those things. Those things I still had control over. And I decided not to give them away.

life has a way of forcing decisions on those who vacillate.

I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination," he told the court. "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But my lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

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." "Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies." "A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

Losing a sense of time is an easy way to lose one's grip and even one's sanity.

Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great...

There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.

Let your courage rise with danger.

if you talk to a man in a second language , your talking to his brain ,if you talk to him in his mother language you're talking to his heart -

When you are young and strong...you can stay alive on your hatred"....but realized later "They can take everything from me except my mind and heart" Nelson Mandela from Long Walk to Freedom