Quotes from Nelson Mandela

If I preached unity, I must act like a unifier, even at the risk of perhaps alienating some of my own colleagues.

He nodded for us to rise. I tried to catch his eye, but he was not even looking in our direction. His eyes were focused on the middle distance. His face was very pale, and he was breathing heavily. We looked at each other and seemed to know: it would be death, otherwise why was this normally calm man so nervous? And then he began to speak.

But internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one's development as a human being. Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others – qualities which are within easy reach of every soul – are the foundation of one's spiritual life.

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

Tuve ocasión de aprender que el valor no consiste en no tener miedo, sino en ser capaz de vencerlo. He sentido miedo más veces de las que puedo recordar, pero siempre lo he ocultado tras una máscara de audacia. El hombre valiente no es el que no siente miedo, sino el que es capaz de conquistarlo.

I never lose. I either win or I learn.

It always seems impossible until it's done

It is not my ambition to marry a white woman or swim in a white pool. It is political equality that we want.

Optimist zijn betekent dat je je gezicht altijd naar de zon toekeert en dat je altijd vooruitloopt.

One of the most difficult things is not to change society — but to change yourself.

Our children are our greatest treasure. They are our future. Those who abuse them tear at the fabric of our society and weaken our nation.

the wealthiest and most popular boy at the circumcision school.

En las competiciones campo a través, el entrenamiento es más importante que cualquier talento innato, y eso me permitía compensar mi falta de aptitudes naturales por medio de la disciplina y la diligencia. Aplicaba este principio a todo lo que hacía.

A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.

los padres raramente conocen el lado romántico de la vida de sus hijos.

I was a hotheaded young man who attempted to make up for his ignorance with militancy.

los que corren grandes riesgos a veces se enfrentan a graves consecuencias.

Sometimes one can judge an organization by the people who belong to it, and I knew that I would be proud to belong to any organization in which Walter was a member.

Decisions should not be taken out of pride or embarrassment, but out of pure strategy.

Bojovník za svobodu bolestn? zjiš?uje, že zp?sob boje ur?uje utla?ovatel a že utla?ovanému ?asto nezbývá než se uchýlit k týmž metodám, jaké používá utla?ovatel. V ur?ité chvíli zkrátka musíte nep?íteli oplatit stejnou mincí.

To make peace with an enemy, one must work with that enemy, and that enemy becomes your partner.

We may borrow… from foreign ideologies, but we reject the wholesale importation of foreign ideologies into Africa.

Gaur was an example of a man without a BA who seemed infinitely better educated than the fellows who left Fort Hare with glittering degrees. Not only was he more knowledgeable, he was bolder and more confident. Although I intended to finish my degree and enter law school, I learned from Gaur that a degree was not in itself a guarantee of leadership and that it meant nothing unless one went out into the community to prove oneself.

Tanto la ley como la filosofía plantean la pregunta: "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" (¿Quién vigila a los vigilantes?).