Quotes About Equality

I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom. From a response to an offer of conditional freedom, read by Zindzi Mandela at a rally, Jabulani Stadium, Soweto, South Africa,

Peace is not just the absence of conflict; peace is the creation of an environment where all can flourish regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, class, caste or any other social markers of difference.

overcoming fear, personal scarifies for the cause of freedom of all, and ability to see good in your enemies – No one is born hating another person because of the color of your skin, or his background, or his religion … if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.

Crime must be brought under control... Freedom without civility, freedom without the ability to live in peace, was not true freedom at all.

To be free is to not merely cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

It was not lack of ability that limited my people, but lack of opportunity.

The purpose of freedom is to create it for others. Prison desk calendar, written on Robben Island, June 2, 1979

The arbitrary and meaningless tests to decide black from Coloured or Coloured from white often resulted in tragic cases where members of the same family were classified differently, all depending on whether one child had a lighter or darker complexion. Where one was allowed to live and work could rest on such absurd distinctions as the curl of one's hair or the size of one's lips.

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

We do not want freedom without bread, nor do we want bread without freedom. Investiture, Clark University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, July 10, 1993

the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed.

Only mass education, he used to say, would free my people, arguing that an educated man could not be oppressed because he could think for himself.

women had not weakened in their resolve to resist.

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.

As Chief Luthuli said, 'When the women begin to take an active part in the struggle, no power on earth can stop us from achieving freedom in our lifetime.

I am your servant…. It is not the individuals that matter, but the collective….

Men, I think, are not capable of doing nothing, of saying nothing, of not reacting to injustice, of not protesting against oppression, of not striving for the good of society and the good life in the ways they see it.

When the women begin to take an active part in the struggle, no power on earth can stop us from achieving freedom in our lifetime.

No era la falta de oportunidades lo que limitaba a mi pueblo, sino la falta de oportunidades.

grievance into a succinct and pithy phrase, while mobilizing the people to combat it. Our slogan

Niemand wordt geboren met haat jegens iemand vanwege zijn huidskleur, zijn afkomst of zijn godsdienst. Als mensen het haten kunnen leren, kunnen ze ook leren liefhebben, want liefde bereikt het hart van de mens veel vanzelfsprekender dan haat.

To overthrow oppression has been sanctioned by humanity and is the highest aspiration

A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle, and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor. At a certain point, one can only fight fire with fire.

apartheid turned many otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals.