Nelson Mandela

“I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.”

“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.”

“Sabotage did not involve loss of life, and it offered the best hope for future race relations. Bitterness would be kept to a minimum and, if the policy bore fruit, democratic government coul...”

“I would wear the blue overalls of the fieldworker and often wore round, rimless glasses known as Mazzawati teaglasses. I had a car, and I wore a chauffeur's cap with my overalls. The pose of...”

“When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.”

“We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.”

“In countries where innocent people are dying, the leaders are following their blood rather than their brains.”

“Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.”

“I made a mistake by being ejected from the presidency. Next time, I will choose a Cabinet which will allow me to be life President.”

“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 becau...”

“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.”

“I was first imprisoned in Pretoria, and then, thereafter, I was taken to Robben Island. I stayed there for a couple of weeks. I was taken back to Pretoria when I was charged in the Rivonia t...”

“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve...”

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

“Whatever position I occupied, it was the result of colleagues - of my comrades in the movement - who had decided in their wisdom to use me for the purpose of focusing the attention of the co...”

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”

“Does anybody really think that they didn't get what they had because they didn't have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment?”

“Nonviolence is a good policy when the conditions permit.”

“There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.”

“Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.”