Quotes from Nelson Mandela

If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don't ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers.

As long as women are bound by poverty and as long as they are looked down upon, human rights will lack substance.

I know that, throughout the world, there are good men and women concerned with the greatest challenges facing society today - poverty, illiteracy, and disease.

Good men and women can be mobilized to ensure that South Africa is united and that the spirit of reconciliation is strengthened and that progress in this country takes place as fast as it can.

Let us remind ourselves that it is ordinary people - men and women, boys and girls - that make the world a special place

Leaders in all spheres who are living with HIV should be encouraged, not coerced, to lead by example and disclose their HIV status.

My dream would be a multicultural society, one that is diverse and where every man, woman and child are treated equally. I dream of a world where all people of all races work together in harmony.

Let us give publicity to H.I.V./AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died because of H.I.V./AIDS, and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary.

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

As I walked out the door towards my freedom, I knew that if I did not leave all the hated, anger and bitterness behind that I would still be in prison.

Great anger and violence can never build a nation.

Do not allow your anger to control your reason, but rather your reason to control your anger.

Running taught me valuable lessons. In cross-country competition, training counted more than intrinsic ability, and I could compensate for a lack of natural aptitude with diligence and discipline. I applied this in everything I did.

We must work together to ensure the equitable distribution of wealth, opportunity and power in our society.

The names of Dingane and Bambata, Hintsa and Makana, Squngthi and Dalasile, Moshoeshoe and Sekhukhuni, were praised as the glory of the entire African nation. I hoped then that life might offer me the opportunity to serve my people and make my own humble contribution to their freedom struggle.

I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.

We slaughter one another in our words and attitudes. We slaughter one another in the stereotypes and mistrust that linger in our heads, and the words of hate we spew from our lips.

I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses.

We can't afford to be killing one another.

When I came to Johannesburg from the countryside, I knew nobody, but many strangers were very kind to me. I then was dragged into politics, and then, subsequently, I became a lawyer.

Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished

Once a person is determined to help themselves, there is nothing that can stop them.

Our continent must be allowed to do its own things, charting its course and destiny.

Abject poverty is demeaning, is an assault on the dignity of those that suffer it. In the end it demeans us all. It makes the freedom of all of us less meaningful.