Quotes from Nelson Mandela

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 were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death

Prison was a kind of crucible which tested a man's character. Some men, under pressure of incarceration, showed true mettle, while others revealed themselves as less than what they had appeared to be.

A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones - and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals.

Let freedom reign.

portion of the fees the government levied

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

It reminded me once again that truly to lead one's people one must also truly know them.

Un luchador por la libertad aprende, por el camino más duro, que es el opresor el que define la naturaleza de la lucha.

I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion. I always remember the regent's axiom: a leader, he said is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, to realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.

Africa's rock art is the common heritage of all Africans, but it is more than that. It is the common heritage of humanity.

Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation.

At the university, teachers had shied away from topics like racial oppression,

I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion. I always remember the regent's axiom: a leader, he said, is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.

His life is circumscribed by racist laws and regulations that cripple his growth, dim his potential, and stunt his life.

As a leader, one must sometimes take actions that are unpopular, or whose results will not be known for years to come. There are victories whose glory lies only in the fact that they are known to those who win them. This is particularly true of prison, where you must find consolation in being true to your ideals, even if no one else knows of it.

I discovered for the first time people of my own age firmly aligned with the liberation struggle, who were prepared, despite their relative privilege, to sacrifice themselves for the cause of the oppresses.

Jimmy: Barbara and I have discussed godfathers at length and we have come to the conclusion that, whether the baby is a girl or boy, we would be consider it an honour if you would agree to accept this office as an adjunct to the more disreputable positions you have held in the past.

Nelson: I would be more than delighted, and the honour in mine, not the baby's. Now they dare not hang me.

I waited with some anxiety, and suddenly, filling out the glass on the other side of the window was Winnie's lovely face. Winnie always dressed up for prison visits, and tried to wear something new and elegant. It was tremendously frustrating not to be able to touch me wife, to speak tenderly to her, to have a private moment together.

It is a simple tale, but its message is an enduring one: virtue and generosity will be rewarded in ways that one cannot know.

university degree, I believed, was a passport not only to community leadership but to financial success.

A detachment of police confronted this army of earnest schoolchildren and without warning opened fire, killing thirteen-year-old Hector Pieterson and many others. The children fought with sticks and stones, and mass chaos ensued, with hundreds of children wounded, and two white men stoned to death

What struck me so forcefully was how small the planet had become during my decades in prison;

La educación es el gran motor del desarrollo personal. Sólo a través de ella la hija de un campesino puede convertirse en médico, el hijo de un minero puede llegar a ser director de la mina, o el de un granjero puede llegar a ser presidente de una gran nación.

the land of their birth; the Urban Areas Act of