Quotes from Nelson Mandela

after years of imprisonment, physical and emotional abuse, and separation from his family, Mandela said, "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." So Mandela's story is really the story of those two things he never gave away: his brilliant mind, and his great heart.

In those days, I believed that proficiency in English and success in business were the direct result of high academic achievements.

Great thinking comes from a great mind

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.

The lesson I took away from the campaign was that in the end, we had no alternative to armed and violent resistance. Over and over again, we had used all the nonviolent weapons in our arsenal—speeches, deputations, threats, marches, strikes, stay-aways, voluntary imprisonment—all to no avail,

the country was in upheaval and the townships were on the brink of open warfare, white life went on placidly and undisturbed.

apartheid turned many otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals.

it is always the oppressor, not the oppressed, who dictates the form of the struggle.

an immoral and unjust legal system would breed contempt for its laws and regulations.

If all the other churches had followed the example of those who resisted, the government would have been confronted with a stalemate that might have forced a compromise. Instead, the state marched over us.

One day, George Mbekela paid a visit to my mother. "Your son is a clever young fellow," he said. "He should go to school." My mother remained silent. No one in my family had ever attended school and my mother was unprepared for Mbekela's suggestion. But she did relay it to my father, who despite—or perhaps because of—his own lack of education immediately decided that his youngest son should go to school. The

In South Africa, to be poor and black was normal, to be poor and white was a tragedy.

He makes the basic point that it is not so much the disability one suffers from that matters but one's attitude to it. The man who says: I will conquer this illness & live a happy life, is already halfway through to victory.

A leader must also tend his garden; he, too, plants seeds, and then watches, cultivates, and harvests the result.

Se dice que nadie conoce realmente un país hasta haber pasado por sus cárceles. No se debe juzgar a una nación por cómo trata a sus miembros más encumbrados, sino por cómo trata a los más humildes.

The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. 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. The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning.

But in Johannesburg I found that many of the most outstanding leaders had never been to university at all.

A dreamer is a winner who never gives up

to truly lead one's people one must also truly know them.

O mais importante da vida é a marca que deixamos na vida dos outros.

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.

There is no such thing as part freedom.

In love, unlike politics, caution is not usually a virtue.

Be absolute for death; for either death or life shall be the sweeter.