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Writer's pictureJonno White

800 Inspiring Nelson Mandela Quotes On Leadership (2023)

1. “It always seems impossible until it’s done. ” — Nelson Mandela


2. “Only free men can negotiate, prisoners can't enter in contracts”


3. “Freedom cannot be achieved unless the women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression.”


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


5. “This would be a hazardous life, and I would be apart from my family, but when a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”


6. “Significant progress is always possible if we ourselves try to plan every detail of our lives and actions. ” — Nelson Mandela


7. “learned that to humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessarily cruel fate.”


8. “Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great...”


9. “to truly lead one’s people one must also truly know them.”


10. “Young people must take it upon themselves to ensure that they receive the highest education possible so that they can represent us well in future as future leaders.”— Nelson Mandela


11. “Some men, under the pressure of incarceration, showed true mettle, while others revealed themselves as less than what they had appeared to be.”


12. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ”


13. “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”


14. “I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE AND THE CAPTAIN OF MY DESTINY.”


15. “Love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela


16. “Quitting is leading too.”


17. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”


18. Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ”-Nelson Mandela


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


20. “What struck me so forcefully was how small the planet had become during my decades in prison;”


21. “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. ” — Nelson Mandela


22. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela


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


24. “As a leader of a mass organization, one must listen to the people. ” — Nelson Mandela


25. “Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.”


26. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” - Nelson Mandela


27. “There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”


28. “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. ” — Nelson Mandela


29. A winner is a dreamer who never gives up. - Nelson Mandela


30. “I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity. 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.”


31. “I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.” — Nelson Mandela


32. “Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.” – Nelson Mandela


33. “There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.”


34. “Tread softly, Breathe peacefully, Laugh hysterically. ”


35. “Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport. ”-Nelson Mandela


36. Don’t waste time


37. “There is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. ” — Nelson Mandela


38. Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.


39. “In a sick country every step to health is an insult to those who live on its sickness.”


40. “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. “


41. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.” - Nelson Mandela


42. “There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lies defeat and death.”


43. It always seems impossible until it is done. - Nelson Mandela


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


45. “leader, he said, is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead,”


46. “Although Verwoerd thought Africans were lower than animals, his death did not yield us any pleasure. Political assassination is not something I or the ANC ever supported. It is a primitive way of contending with an opponent”


47. “Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport.”


48. “I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A person does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards. ”-Nelson Mandela


49. “Il giorno prima dello sciopero, mentre riaccompagnavo a casa Ida e il suo figlio dodicenne, dissi che l'indomani volevo che mi preparasse alcune camicie lavate e stirate. Alle mie parole seguì in lungo e inconsueto silenzio. Ida si voltò dalla mia parte e disse con sdegno a malapena represso: "Sai benissimo che non lo posso fare."


50. “El hombre valiente no es el que no siente miedo, sino el que es capaz de conquistarlo.”


51. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”


52. I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A person does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards.”


53. A leader... is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. -Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom


54. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up. ” — Nelson Mandela


55. Quitting is leading too.


56. “The major event facing the country in 1958 was the general election – ‘general’ only in the sense that three million whites could participate, but none of the thirteen million Africans.”


57. “It is not the kings and generals that make history but the masses of people. ” — Nelson Mandela


58. “Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.” – Nelson Mandela


59. “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”


60. “It never hurts to see the good in someone, they often act the better because of it.”


61. “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.” — Nelson Mandela


62. “I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.”


63. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”


64. “A blind pursuit of cheap popularity has nothing to do with revolution."


65. “A new world will be won not by those who stand at a distance with their arms folded, but by those who are in the arena, whose garments are torn by storms and whose bodies are maimed in the course of the contest. From a letter to Winnie Mandela,”


66. “Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.” – Chief Albert Luthuli Centenary Celebrations, April 25, 1998, South Africa


67. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.” – Nelson Mandela


68. “The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”


69. “It always seems impossible until it’s done. ”


70. “ As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”


71. “A leader. . .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”


72. The brave man is not the one who has no fears, he is the one who triumphs over his fears.”


73. “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison. ”-Nelson Mandela


74. As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself.”


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


76. Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement. – Nelson Mandela


77. “Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.”


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


79. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up. ”-Nelson Mandela


80. “One should never forget the main aim in a debate, inside and outside the organisations, in political rallies, in Parliament and other government structures, is that we should emerge from that debate, however sharp our differences might have been, stronger, closer and more united and confident that ever before.”


81. “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.”


82. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” —Nelson Mandela


83. Let your greatness blossom.


84. “There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status.”


85. “The Borgen Project is an incredible nonprofit organization that is addressing poverty and hunger and working towards ending them.”


86. “A leader … is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” ~Nelson Mandela


87. “A real leader uses every issue, no matter how serious and sensitive, to ensure that at the end of the debate we should emerge stronger and more united than ever before. ”


88. “A philosopher once noted that something is odd if a person is not liberal when he is young and conservative when he is old.”


89. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.” — Nelson Mandela


90. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up. ” – Nelson Mandela


91. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. “


92. “Recordé a todos, una y otra vez, que la lucha por la liberación no había sido una batalla contra otros grupos u otros colores de piel, sino contra un sistema represivo.”


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


94. “You know, you can only lead them from behind.”


95. “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. ”-Nelson Mandela


96. “Although we had no hope of defeating the enemy in the battlefield, nevertheless, we fought back to keep the idea of liberation alive. From a conversation with Richard Stengel, January 13, 1993”


97. “People respond in accordance to how you relate to them. If you approach them on the basis of violence, that's how they'll react. But if you say, 'We want peace, we want stability,' we can then do a lot of things that will contribute towards the progress of our society.”


98. “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”


99. “our father came back and he left us alone because he has now become the father of the nation.”


100. “The brave man is not the one who has no fears, he is the one who triumphs over his fears.”


101. A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”


102. “and when we did come out [of prison], my children said, “We thought we had a father and one day he’d come back. But to our dismay, our father came back and he left us alone because he has now become the father of the nation.”


103. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. ”


104. “Bojovník za svobodu bolestně zjišťuje, že způsob boje určuje utlačovatel a že utlačovanému často nezbývá než se uchýlit k týmž metodám, jaké používá utlačovatel. V určité chvíli zkrátka musíte nepříteli oplatit stejnou mincí.”


105. “Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.”


106. “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears. ”-Nelson Mandela


107. “Een leider, zegt hij, is als een herder. Hij blijft achter de kudde en laat de behendigste voorlopen, waarop de anderen volgen, zonder te beseffen dat ze steeds vanuit de achterhoede worden geleid.”


108. “It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.”


109. “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.”


110. It always seems impossible until it's done. — Nelson Mandela


111. Nothing is black or white.


112. “Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.”– Nelson Mandela


113. As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility. – Nelson Mandela


114. “It is one thing to be told of possible hardships ahead, it is entirely another to have to confront them in reality.”


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


116. “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.”


117. “He did not need to be ordained, for the traditional religion of the Xhosas is characterized by a cosmic wholeness, so that there is little distinction between the sacred and the secular, between the natural and the supernatural.”


118. “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead. ”-Nelson Mandela


119. “Out of the motorcar (I learned later that this majestic vehicle was a Ford V8) stepped a short, thickset man wearing a smart suit.”


120. “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. ”


121. “Live life as though nobody is watching. and express yourself as though everyone is listening.”– Nelson Mandela


122. “It had been twenty-one years since I had even touched my wife’s hand.”


123. “When people are determined they can overcome anything.”


124. There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.


125. “A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.”


126. There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”


127. “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.”


128. “If you want the cooperation of humans around you, you must make them feel they are important – and you do that by being genuine and humble. ”


129. “There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status. ”-Nelson Mandela


130. “A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.”


131. Nelson Mandela quote on learning to see things from a different perspective


132. “Lead from the front — but don t leave your base behind.”


133. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”


134. Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.


135. “I never lose, I either win or learn”


136. “I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A person does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards. ” — Nelson Mandela


137. “Africa's rock art is the common heritage of all Africans, but it is more than that. It is the common heritage of humanity.”


138. As long as many of our people still live in utter poverty, as long as children still live under plastic covers, as long as many of our people are still without jobs, no South African should rest and wallow in the joy of freedom.”


139. “Tread softly, breathe peacefully, laugh hysterically. ”-Nelson Mandela


140. “Tread softly, breathe peacefully, laugh hysterically.”


141. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear. but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid. but he who conquers that fear.” ~ Nelson Mandela


142. “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love." - Nelson Mandela”


143. Choose your friends wisely


144. “We must all strive to be inspired by a deep-seated love of our country, without regard to race, color, gender or station in life. ” — Nelson Mandela


145. “A leader…is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” – “Long Walk to Freedom, The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela” written by Nelson Mandela in 1994


146. “It was during those long & lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my people became a hunger for the freedom of all people. ” — Nelson Mandela


147. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear. but the triumph over it.” – Nelson Mandela


148. “It was ANC policy to try to educate all people, even our enemies: we believed that all men, even prison service warders, were capable of change, and we did our utmost to try to sway them.”


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


150. “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.”


151. “Para firmar la paz con un enemigo es necesario trabajar con él.”


152. “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.” ― Nelson Mandela


153. “The human body has an enormous capacity for adjusting to trying circumstances. I have found that one can bear the unbearable if one can keep one's spirit strong, even when one's body is being tested. Strong convictions are the secret of surviving deprivation. Your spirit can be full even when your stomach is empty.”


154. “Do not judge me by my successes. Judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” – Nelson Mandela


155. There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal triumph if you have the iron will and the necessary skill.”


156. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”


157. Nelson Mandela quote on what courage really is


158. “I am the captain of my soul.”


159. “To make peace with an enemy one must work with that enemy, and that enemy becomes one’s partner.”


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


161. “Remember to smile.” — Nelson Mandela


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


163. “Nadie nace odiando a otra persona por el color de su piel, su procedencia o su religión. El odio se aprende, y si es posible aprender a odiar, es posible aprender a amar, ya que el amor surge con mayor naturalidad en el corazón del hombre que el odio.”


164. “Il nostro giocare in piccolo non serve al mondo.”


165. “Es de sentido común que un sistema legal inmoral e injusto sólo puede engendrar desprecio hacia sus normas y sus leyes. Llegamos”


166. “A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.”


167. “The authorities liked to say that we received a balanced diet; it was indeed balanced — between the unpalatable and the inedible. ” — Nelson Mandela


168. “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.”


169. “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.”


170. “Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.”


171. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.


172. “The habit of attending to small things and of appreciating small courtesies is one of the important marks of a good person.”


173. “There sit our sons", he said, "young, healthy and handsome, the flower of the Xhosa tribe, the pride of our nation. We are here to promise them manhood, but it is an empty promise because we Xhosas and all black South Africans, are a conquered people.”


174. “As Nelson Mandela once said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” It just doesn’t work.”


175. Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.” – Nelson Mandela


176. “But as I got closer to the car that would take me away, I realized that when I went through that gate, if I still hated them, they would still have me. I wanted to be free. And so I let it go.”


177. “Men have different capacities and react differently to stress. But the stronger ones raised up the weaker ones, and both became stronger in the process. ”-Nelson Mandela


178. Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. —Nelson Mandela


179. It always seems impossible until it's done. - Nelson Mandela


180. “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.” – Nelson Mandela


181. “I never lose. I either win or I learn.”


182. “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made in the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”


183. Men have different capacities and react differently to stress. But the stronger ones raised up the weaker ones, and both became stronger in the process.”


184. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. ” — Nelson Mandela


185. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa, political leader, and philanthropist


186. “I always remember the regent’s axiom: a leader, he said, is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. It”


187. “Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs. ”-Nelson Mandela


188. “It always seems impossible until it’s done. “


189. “The color of my skin is beautiful, like the soil of Mother Africa. ” — Nelson Mandela


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


191. “For a revolution is not just a question of pulling a trigger; its purpose is to create a fair just society”


192. “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.”


193. “Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”


194. No one is born hating another person...People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. —Nelson Mandela


195. “I am fundamentally an optimist. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”


196. “Lead from the back and let others believe they are in front.”


197. “A man is not a man until he has a house of his own.”


198. “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. ” — Nelson Mandela


199. “Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility. ”-Nelson Mandela


200. “Tread softly,


201. “I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.”


202. “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. ”-Nelson Mandela


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


204. Learn and teach


205. “There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. ” — Nelson Mandela


206. “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. “


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


208. It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success.


209. “Men have different capacities and react differently to stress. But the stronger ones raised up the weaker ones, and both became stronger in the process.”


210. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” -Nelson Mandela


211. “A pesar de todo, yo no tenía la menor duda de que volvería a ser un hombre libre algún día.”


212. “We must strive to be moved by a generosity of spirit that will enable us to outgrow the hatred and conflicts of the past. ” — Nelson Mandela


213. “Es fácil que la gente se comporte como amiga cuando uno es rico, pero muy pocos harán lo mismo cuando uno es pobre. Si la riqueza es un imán, la pobreza es una especie de repelente.”


214. “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”


215. “A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special. ”


216. “university degree, I believed, was a passport not only to community leadership but to financial success.”


217. “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.” — Nelson Mandela


218. “If I had my time over I would do the same again. So would any man who dares call himself a man.” —Pretoria, South Africa 1962


219. “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”


220. It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela


221. “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison. ”


222. “I was the symbol of justice in the court of the oppressor, the representative of the great ideals of freedom,”


223. “Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.”


224. “It always seems impossible until it's done.”


225. “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. “


226. “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.” – Nelson Mandela


227. “Appearances matter — and remember to smile.”


228. “We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” ~ Nelson Mandela


229. “It is now in the hands of your generations to help rid the world of such suffering.” 90th Birthday Gathering, June 25, 2008


230. “Let your courage rise with danger.”


231. “The struggle is my life.”


232. “In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility. ”-Nelson Mandela


233. “There is no such thing as part freedom. ” — Nelson Mandela


234. “a child is born free”


235. “In confidence we lay our cause before the whole world. Whether we win or whether we die, freedom will rise in Africa like the sun from the morning clouds.”


236. “made a point of sitting in a Whites Only chair in the Whites Only waiting room.”


237. “I remember Mac retorting that hundreds of years ago there was a Hindi word for a craft that flew in the air, long before the airplane was invented, but that did not mean that airplanes existed in ancient India.”


238. “It always seems impossible until its done.”


239. “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice.”


240. “Lead from the back and let others believe they are in front.” - Nelson Mandela


241. “Een mens die een ander mens van zijn vrijheid berooft, is een gevangene van de haat, opgesloten achter de tralies van vooroordelen en kleingeestigheid.”


242. Nelson Mandela quote on teaching yourself that letting go is nothing to be feared


243. “I believed that I would become a counsellor to the Thembu king,”


244. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. ”


245. “Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts. ” — Nelson Mandela


246. “Money wont create success, the fredom to make it will”


247. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”


248. “Learn to know yourself, to search realistically and regularly the processes of your own mind and feelings.” – Nelson Mandela


249. “One of the mistakes which some political analysts make is to think that their enemies should be our enemies.”


250. “The brave man is not the one who has no fears, he is the one who triumphs over his fears. ”-Nelson Mandela


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


252. “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.”


253. “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears. ”


254. Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.” Nelson Mandela


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


256. “I have a special attachment to the people who befriended me during times of distress. ” — Nelson Mandela


257. Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”


258. “When describing why the African National Congress took the fateful decision to give up on nonviolence and take up arms, Mandela writes that they had no choice, that “the oppressor defines the nature of the struggle.”


259. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up”


260. “I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom. Too many have died since I went to prison. Too many have suffered for the love of freedom.”


261. ”The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. ”


262. “In my country, we go to prison first and then become President. ” — Nelson Mandela


263. “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. ”-Nelson Mandela


264. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”


265. “There is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”


266. “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. ”-Nelson Mandela


267. Nelson Mandela quote on learning to let go


268. “It will forever remain an accusation and a challenge to all men and women of conscience that it took as long as it has, before all of us stood up to say enough is enough.”


269. Although I am a gregarious person, I love solitude even more.”


270. “Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”


271. “...tenían ese gran respeto por la educación que tan a menudo muestran quienes carecen de ella...”


272. “Truth will rise like the sun from the morning clouds!”


273. “As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself... Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”


274. “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying. ”


275. “When I walked out of prison, that was my mission — to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both.”


276. It always seems impossible until it's done. —Nelson Mandela


277. “Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.” —From a letter to Winnie Mandela, 1975


278. “stamping out that spark that makes each of us human and each of us who we are.”


279. “No one is born hating another person…People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela


280. Appearances matter — and remember to smile.


281. “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being an optimist is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward.”


282. “Ma il silenzio amoroso tra una madre e un figlio non è una dimensione solitaria.”


283. A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.


284. Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”


285. “As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. ” — Nelson Mandela


286. “Difficulties break some men but make others”


287. “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones – and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals.”


288. “We owe our children. the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.” – Nelson Mandela


289. “Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front. ” — Nelson Mandela


290. “It was not a lack of ability that limited my people, but lack of opportunity.”


291. “- In my country we go to prison first and then become President.”


292. “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. ” — Nelson Mandela


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


294. “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead. ”


295. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”


296. “Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I feel down and got back up again. ”


297. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. ” — Nelson Mandela


298. “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”


299. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” –Nelson Mandela


300. “A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial and uninformed.” – An interview with Oprah for O Magazine, April 2001


301. “You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.”


302. “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” – Nelson Mandela


303. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.”– Nelson Mandela


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


305. “Ik heb altijd gevonden dat lichaamsbeweging niet alleen de sleutel is tot fysieke gezondheid, maar ook tot gemoedsrust. [...] Lichaamsbeweging verdrijft spanning en spanning is de vijand van sereniteit.”


306. “Unlike some politicians, I can admit to a mistake.”


307. “It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another. ” — Nelson Mandela


308. “I was taught that a boy may cry but a man conceals his pain.”


309. “If you want the cooperation of humans around you, you must make them feel they are important – and you do that by being genuine and humble.” – An interview with Oprah for O Magazine, April 2001


310. “We all know that education, more than anything else, improves your chances of building better lives.” — Nelson Mandela


311. “if you talk to a man in a second language , your talking to his brain ,if you talk to him in his mother language you're talking to his heart -”


312. “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. ”


313. “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” ~ Nelson Mandela


314. “It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.” ― Nelson Mandela


315. Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.


316. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” —Nelson Mandela


317. “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.”


318. The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. — Nelson Mandela


319. “Prison is designed to break one's spirit and destroy one's resolve. To do this, the authorities attempt to exploit every weakness, demolish every initiative, negate all signs of individuality--all with the idea of stamping out that spark that makes each of us human and each of us who we are.”


320. “significado coloquial se aproxima más a “revoltoso”. Yo no creo que los nombres predeterminen el destino, ni que mi padre adivinara de algún modo cuál iba a ser mi futuro, pero en años posteriores, tanto mis amigos como mis parientes llegaron a atribuir a ese nombre las muchas tempestades que he causado, y a”


321. I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people. - Nelson Mandela


322. “In my country we go to prison first and then become President. ”


323. “Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished. ”-Nelson Mandela


324. “Bildung ist der Motor persönlicher Entwicklung. Durch Bildung wird aus der Tochter eines Bauers einen Ärztin, aus dem Sohn eines Mienenarbeiters deren Leiter, aus dem Kind eines Landarbeiter Präsident einer marken Nation. Was wir aus dem machen was uns mitgegeben wird, unterscheidet letztendlich erst einen Menschen vom anderen.”


325. “When a deep injury is done to us, we never heal until we forgive. ” — Nelson Mandela


326. “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?”


327. “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”


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


329. “A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.”


330. “If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.”


331. “In the Afrikaner’s worldview, apartheid and the church went hand in hand.”


332. “I am not what happened to me; I am what I choose to become.”


333. “Do not judge me by my success. judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” ~ Nelson Mandela


334. “A leader…is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” Nelson Mandela


335. “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,”


336. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”


337. “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.” ~ Nelson Mandela


338. “Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty. ”-Nelson Mandela


339. “Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying. ” — Nelson Mandela


340. “This was one of the state’s most barbarous techniques of applying pressure: imprisoning the wives and children of freedom fighters. Many men in prison were able to handle anything the authorities did to them, but the thought of the state doing the same thing to their families was almost impossible to bear.”


341. “women had not weakened in their resolve to resist.”


342. “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.”


343. “It is not beyond our power to create a world in which all children have access to a good education.” — Nelson Mandela


344. “I discovered for the first time people of my own age firmly aligned with the liberation struggle, who were prepared, despite their relative privilege, to sacrifice themselves for the cause of the oppresses.”


345. “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.”


346. “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”


347. “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. ”


348. “we fought injustice wherever we found it, no matter how large, or how small, and we fought injustice to preserve our own humanity.”


349. “One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.”


350. Be passionate


351. “It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another. ”-Nelson Mandela


352. “Great thinking comes from a great mind”


353. “We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.”


354. “Where you stand depends on where you sit.”


355. “Lead from the back – and let others believe they are in front.” - Nelson Mandela


356. “I have a special attachment to the people who befriended me during times of distress.”


357. “A new world will be won not by those who stand at a distance with their arms folded...”


358. “It was a useful reminder that all men, even the most seemingly cold-blooded, have a core of decency, and that if their heart is touched, they are capable of changing.”


359. Where you stand depends on where you sit.


360. “Niente come tornare in un luogo rimasto immutato


361. “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying. ”-Nelson Mandela


362. “Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.”


363. “He hated white oppression and white domination, not white people themselves.”


364. “It is a simple tale, but its message is an enduring one: virtue and generosity will be rewarded in ways that one cannot know.”


365. “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”


366. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” —Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela


367. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ― Nelson Mandela


368. “Appearances matter — and remember to smile. ”-Nelson Mandela


369. “A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred,”


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


371. “To be the father of a nation is a great honor, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy.”


372. “Je ne perds jamais. Soit je gagne, soit j'apprends.”


373. Education is the most powerful weapon for changing the world. Nelson Mandela


374. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” – Nelson Mandela


375. “I never lose. I either win or learn.” – Nelson Mandela


376. “There is no passion to be found in playing small – settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”


377. “Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer. ”-Nelson Mandela


378. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again. ”-Nelson Mandela


379. “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite... Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”


380. “learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”


381. We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. Nelson Mandela


382. “Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening. ”


383. “There are victories whose glory lies only in the fact that they are known to those who win them.”


384. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ―Nelson Mandela


385. “apartheid turned many otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals.”


386. “Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end. ”-Nelson Mandela


387. “Suddenly there were no Xhosas or Zulus, no Indians or Africans, no rightists or leftists, no religious or political leaders; we were all nationalists and patriots bound together by a love of our common history our culture, our country, and our people.”


388. “There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair.”


389. “It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success. ”


390. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”


391. “There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal triumph if you have the iron will and the necessary skill. ”-Nelson Mandela


392. “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”


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


394. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” — Nelson Mandela


395. Nelson Mandela quote on the calmness that comes with change


396. “Prison was a kind of crucible which tested a man's character. Some men, under pressure of incarceration, showed true mettle, while others revealed themselves as less than what they had appeared to be.”


397. “Banning not only confines one physically, it imprisons one's spirit. it induces a kind of psychological claustrophobia that makes one yearn not only for freedom of movement but spiritual escape...This insidious effect of bans was that at a certain point one began to think that the opponent was not without but within.”


398. There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status.”


399. “To overthrow oppression has been sanctioned by humanity and is the highest aspiration”


400. “It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”


401. It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. —Nelson Mandela


402. “When a deep injury is done to us, we never heal until we forgive.” – Nelson Mandela


403. Success in politics demands that you must take your people into confidence about your views and state them very clearly, very politely, very calmly, but nevertheless, state them openly.


404. Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport.


405. “Courageous people do not fear forgiving for the sake of peace.”


406. “Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying.”


407. “ When you are young and strong...you can stay alive on your hatred"....but realized later "They can take everything from me except my mind and heart"


408. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” – Nelson Mandela


409. “I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles. ”-Nelson Mandela


410. “A leader. . .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” – Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa


411. “I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments, produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people.”


412. “I never lose. Either I win or learn.” ―Nelson Mandela


413. “Peace is the greatest weapon for development that any person can have.”


414. “His life is circumscribed by racist laws and regulations that cripple his growth, dim his potential, and stunt his life.”


415. Nelson Mandela quote on appreciating people based on their struggle, and not just the outcome


416. “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones. ”-Nelson Mandela


417. “It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another. Since”


418. “What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts,”


419. Nelson Mandela quote on standing up for change


420. “Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.”– Nelson Mandela


421. “One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen. ” — Nelson Mandela


422. “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies. ”


423. “Sólo la educación de las masas, puede liberar al pueblo. Un hombre educado no puede ser oprimido, si es capaz de pensar por sí mismo.”


424. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the TRIUMPH over it”


425. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling. but in rising every time we fall.” ~ Nelson Mandela


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


427. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela


428. A leader... is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. — Nelson Mandela


429. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – “Long Walk to Freedom, The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela” written by Nelson Mandela in 1994


430. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.” - Nelson Mandela


431. “Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.” — Nelson Mandela, former South African president and activist


432. “Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front. ”-Nelson Mandela


433. “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 point, one can only fight fire with fire”


434. Remember to smile.- Nelson Mandela


435. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela


436. “Later the island was turned into a leper colony, a lunatic asylum, and a naval base. The government had only recently turned the island back into a prison.”


437. “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. Jam”


438. “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. ”-Nelson Mandela


439. “La educación es el gran motor del desarrollo personal. Sólo a través de ella la hija de un campesino puede convertirse en médico, el hijo de un minero puede llegar a ser director de la mina, o el de un granjero puede llegar a ser presidente de una gran nación.”


440. “there was not a single act of violence on our side. The discipline of our resisters was exemplary.”


441. “I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there was mercy and generosity.”


442. “It is so easy to break down and destroy. The heroes are those who make peace and build.” – Address at Kliptown, Soweto, South Africa, July 12, 2008


443. “I never lose. I either win or learn. ”-Nelson Mandela


444. “No, no, no, everything is all right. I have regular medical check-ups and they say I won’t die this week.” —Larry King Live, May 16, 2000


445. “Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.”


446. “The greatest glory in living lies not in falling, but in rising every time we fall. ” — Nelson Mandela


447. “I am the captain of my soul.” Nelson Mandela


448. “I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now and will do so until the end of my days. ”-Nelson Mandela


449. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear. but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid. but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela


450. “I learned that to humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessarily cruel fate. Even as a boy, I defeated my opponents without dishonoring them.”


451. I dust [your photo] carefully every morning, for to do so gives me the pleasant feeling that I'm caressing you as in the old days. I even touch your nose with mine to recapture the electric current that used to flush through my blood whenever I did so. - Author: Nelson Mandela


452. “I loved it in the unconditional way that children love their first home.”


453. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” -Nelson Mandela, world leader


454. “We must strive to be moved by a generosity of spirit that will enable us to outgrow the hatred and conflicts of the past.”


455. Leaders will have to give clear and decisive leadership towards a world of tolerance and respect for difference, and an uncompromising commitment to peaceful solutions of conflicts and disputes. - Author: Nelson Mandela


456. “Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do. ”


457. In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.


458. “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”


459. “It always seems impossible until it is done.”– Nelson Mandela


460. “Character is how you treat people when they can do nothing for you.”


461. “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” —Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa


462. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. I felt fear myself more times than I can remember, but I hid it behind a mask of boldness. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”


463. “It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success.”


464. “No child in Africa, and in fact anywhere in the world, should be denied education.” — Nelson Mandela


465. “Success in politics demands that you must take your people into confidence about your views and state them very clearly, very politely, very calmly, but nevertheless, state them openly.”


466. “We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”


467. “They reminded us that the freedom struggle was not merely a question of making speeches, holding meetings, passing resolutions, and sending deputations, but of meticulous organization, militant action, and, above all, the willingness to suffer and sacrifice.”


468. “Difficulties break some men but make others. No ax is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.” – A letter to Winnie Mandela, written on Robben Island, February 1, 1975


469. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again. ”


470. “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones - and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals.”


471. “Many people in this country have paid the price before me and many will pay the price after me.”


472. “It is in your hands, to make a better world for all who live in it. ” — Nelson Mandela


473. “We forgive but not forgotten.”


474. “I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.”


475. “You can start changing our world for the better daily, no matter how small the action. ”


476. “There can be no greater gift than that of giving one’s time and energy to help others without expecting anything in return. ”


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


478. It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.”


479. “Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and apsirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry or savour their songs. I again realized that we were not different people with separate languages; we were one people, with different tongues.”


480. “Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do. ”-Nelson Mandela


481. “Violence was the only weapon that would destroy apartheid.”


482. “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.”


483. “Každý člověk má v životě dvojí závazek - vůči rodině, rodičům, ženě a dětem, ale také vůči národu, komunitě, zemi.”


484. Tread softly, breathe peacefully, laugh hysterically.


485. It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. . — Nelson Mandela


486. “A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don't have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.”


487. “A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it's lowest ones”


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


489. “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”


490. “There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status.” — Nelson Mandela


491. “Of course you cannot know a man completely, his character, his principles, sense of judgement, not till he’s shown his colors, run the people, making laws. Experience, there’s the test.”


492. It always seems impossible until it’s done." —Nelson Mandela


493. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”


494. “A real leader uses every issue, no matter how serious and sensitive, to ensure that at the end of the debate we should emerge stronger and more united than ever before.” – Nelson Mandela’s personal notebook, January 16, 2000


495. “Blue-collar workers are the backbone of any great society,” – Nelson Mandela


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


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


498. “No one is born hating another person…People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” ~ Nelson Mandela


499. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite


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


501. “A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.” – Address at Kliptown, Soweto, South Africa, July 12, 2008


502. “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. ”


503. “As I finally walked through those gates to enter a car on the other side, I felt - even at the age of seventy-one - that my life was beginning anew. My ten thousand days of imprisonment were over.”


504. “Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening. ”-Nelson Mandela


505. “From Gandhi to Mandela, from the American patriot to the Polish shipbuilders, the makers of revolutions have not come from the top."


506. “the idea of the black inferiority complex and castigated what he called the worship and idolization of the West and their ideas. The inferiority complex, he affirmed, was the greatest barrier to liberation”


507. “There is nothing I fear more than waking up without a program that will help me bring a little happiness to those with no resources, those who are poor, illiterate, and ridden with terminal disease.”


508. “Nonviolent passive resistance is effective as long as your opposition adheres to the same rules as you do. But if peaceful protest is met with violence, its efficacy is at an end. For me, nonviolence was not a moral principle but a strategy; there is no moral goodness in using an ineffective weapon.”


509. “Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace. ”-Nelson Mandela


510. “Money won’t create success. The freedom to make it will.”


511. “It is an achievement for a man to do his duty on Earth irrespective of the consequences. ” — Nelson Mandela


512. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. “


513. “the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed.”


514. Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world. —Nelson Mandela


515. “Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.” – Nelson Mandela


516. “There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal triumph if you have the iron will and the necessary skill.”


517. “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.”


518. Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation.”


519. “I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A person does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards.”


520. The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling but in rising every time we fall. - Nelson Mandela


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


522. “It was as simple and yet as incomprehensible as the moment a small child asks her father, "Why can't you be with us?" And the father must utter the terrible words, "There are other children like you, a great many of them...." and then one's voice trails off.”


523. Be optimistic


524. “When a deep injury is done to us, we never heal until we forgive.” – Nelson Mandela


525. “Let freedom reign.”


526. “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. ”


527. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. ”– Nelson Mandela


528. “I have always believed that exercise is not only a key to physical health but to peace of mind.”


529. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” —Nelson Mandela


530. “It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity, or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.”


531. “One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen. ”


532. “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.”


533. “No single person can liberate a country. You can only liberate a country if you act as a collective.”


534. “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”


535. “The children who sleep in the streets, reduced to begging to make a living, are a testimony to an unfinished job. ” — Nelson Mandela


536. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” ~ Nelson Mandela


537. “A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” —Nelson Mandela, revolutionary, statesman, and philanthropist


538. “un líder es como un pastor que permanece detrás del rebaño y permite que los más ágiles vayan por delante, tras lo cual, los demás les siguen sin darse cuenta de que en todo momento están siendo dirigidos desde detrás.”


539. It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. – Nelson Mandela


540. “Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”


541. “We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear. ”-Nelson Mandela


542. “Tread softly


543. “The habit of attending to small things and of appreciating small courtesies is one of the important marks of a good person. ” — Nelson Mandela


544. “One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen. ”-Nelson Mandela


545. “This document [the Reconstruction and Development Programme] was translated into a simpler manifesto called 'A Better Life for All', which in turn became the ANC's campaign slogan.”


546. “De beste manier om te ontdekken hoe je zelf veranderd bent, is teruggaan naar een plek die onveranderd blijft.”


547. “Non-violence is a good policy when conditions permit.”


548. Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.


549. “portion of the fees the government levied”


550. “At the university, teachers had shied away from topics like racial oppression,”


551. “As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself… Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”


552. You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.”


553. “Freedom can never be taken for granted. Each generation must safeguard it and extend it. Your parents and elders sacrificed much so that you should have freedom without suffering what they did. Use this precious right to ensure that the darkness of the past never return.”


554. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”


555. Nelson Mandela quote on the power of being a quiet leader


556. “I am not the only one who did not want revenge. Almost all my colleagues in prison did not want revenge, because there is no time to do anything else except to try and save your people.” —Larry King Live, May 16, 2000


557. “If wealth is a magnet, poverty is a kind of repellent.”


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


559. “When the history of our times is written, will we be remembered as the generation that turned our backs in a moment of global crisis or will it be recorded that we did the right thing?” —Tromso, Norway, 2005


560. The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.


561. “It is not the kings and generals that make history but the masses of people.”


562. “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite”


563. “We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”


564. “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. ”-Nelson Mandela


565. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela


566. “It always seems impossible until it's done.” – Nelson Mandela


567. A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. —Nelson Mandela, revolutionary, statesman, and philanthropist


568. “Learn to know yourself…to search realistically and regularly the processes of your own mind and feelings.” – Nelson Mandela


569. “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.”


570. Nelson Mandela quote on the power of hard work and perseverance


571. “Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.”


572. Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer.


573. “I immediately regretted that last point because I have discovered that in discussions it never helps to take a morally superior tone to one's opponent.”


574. “Don't Judge a person by his success stories, but only with how many times the person stood up, after falling down.”


575. “One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.”


576. “The grave plight of the people compels them to resist to the death the stinking policies of the gangsters that rule our country….”


577. “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”


578. “Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me. ”-Nelson Mandela


579. “A detachment of police confronted this army of earnest schoolchildren and without warning opened fire, killing thirteen-year-old Hector Pieterson and many others. The children fought with sticks and stones, and mass chaos ensued, with hundreds of children wounded, and two white men stoned to death”


580. “Communists have always played an active role in the fight by colonial countries for their freedom, because the short-term objects of Communism would always correspond with the long-term objects of freedom movements.”


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


582. “It always seems impossible until it's done. ”


583. “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” — William Ernest Henley


584. “There is little to be said in favour of poverty, but it was often an incubator of true friendship. Many people will appear to befriend you when you are wealthy, but precious few will do the same when you are poor”


585. “Although I am a gregarious person, I love solitude even more. ”-Nelson Mandela


586. “You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution. ” — Nelson Mandela


587. “What freedom am I being offered when my very South African citizenship is not respected?”


588. “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life."


589. “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that the are many more hills to climb. ” — Nelson Mandela


590. Nothing’s impossible


591. “It's never too late to do the right thing.”


592. Make a difference


593. A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. - Nelson Mandela


594. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. ”-Nelson Mandela


595. “Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs.”


596. “Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves. ”


597. “It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.” —International AIDS conference, 2000


598. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”


599. “Running taught me valuable lessons. In cross-country competitions, 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.” — Nelson Mandela


600. “Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?”


601. “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”


602. “I was to have a working holiday, the only kind of holiday I knew how to take.”


603. “lay a lost and delightful world, the world of my childhood, the world of sweet and irresponsible days at Qunu and Mqhekezweni. Now I was a man, and I would never again play thinti, or steal maize, or drink milk from a cow’s udder.”


604. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.” – Nelson Mandela


605. “It always seems impossible until it's done”


606. “It is music and dancing that make me at peace with the world.”


607. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”– Nelson Mandela, South African political leader, philanthropist and revolutionary


608. May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”


609. Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.”


610. “It always seems impossible until it’s done. ”-Nelson Mandela


611. We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. —Nelson Mandela


612. “Niente può essere più lontano dalla verità.”


613. “not because they always agreed with him, but because the regent listened to and respected all different opinions.”


614. “There is no such thing as part freedom.”


615. “Honour belongs to those who never forsake the truth even when things seem dark and grim, who try over and over again, who are never discouraged by insults, humiliation and even defeat.”


616. “Lead from the back – and let others believe they are in front.”


617. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ” — Nelson Mandela


618. “There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal trimuph if you have the iron will and the neccessary skill.”


619. “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”


620. “Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”


621. “Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.” – Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa


622. “She married a man who soon left her; that man became a myth; and then that myth returned home and proved to be just a man after all.”


623. “And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”


624. “We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” — Nelson Mandela


625. “Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. ”


626. It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. . —Nelson Mandela


627. “I do not deny, however, that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the Whites.”


628. “As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. ”-Nelson Mandela


629. “la virtud y la generosidad son recompensadas de un modo inescrutable.”


630. “Long speeches, the shaking of fists, the banging of tables and strongly worded resolutions out of touch with the objective conditions do not bring about mass action and can do a great deal of harm to the organisation and the struggle we serve.” —Presidential adress to the ANC Transvaal Congress, 1953


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


632. “When I walked out of prison, that was my mission — to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both. ” — Nelson Mandela


633. “n Mens het letterkunde in jou lewe nodig, want daarsonder gaan jy agteruit.”


634. “Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.” – Nelson Mandela, political leader


635. Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it.”


636. “Courage is not the absence of fear — it s inspiring others to move beyond it.”


637. “We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. ” — Nelson Mandela


638. “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. ”


639. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” Nelson Mandela


640. I am the captain of my soul.


641. “Un luchador por la libertad aprende, por el camino más duro, que es el opresor el que define la naturaleza de la lucha.”


642. The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. -Nelson Mandela


643. “the wealthiest and most popular boy at the circumcision school.”


644. “We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”


645. “A real leader uses every issue, no matter how serious and sensitive, to ensure that at the end of the debate, we should emerge stronger and more united than ever before.” — Nelson Mandela


646. “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. ”-Nelson Mandela


647. “Don’t wait for a Gandhi. don’t wait for a King. don’t wait for a Mandela. You are your own Mandela. you are your own Gandhi. you are your own King.” ~ Leymah Gbowee


648. Lead from the back


649. Here's a More Effective (and Ethical) Approach to Tracking Employee Productivity


650. “If I had my time over I would do the same again, so would any man who dares call himself a man.”


651. “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies. ”-Nelson Mandela


652. “It always seems impossible until it is done.”


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


654. “It is an achievement for a man to do his duty on Earth irrespective of the consequences.”


655. “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”


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


657. “A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. ”-Nelson Mandela


658. “Running taught me valuable lessons. 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.”


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


660. “One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others. ” — Nelson Mandela


661. “A slogan is a vital link between the organization and the masses it seeks to lead. It should synthesize a particular grievance into a succinct and pithy phrase, while mobilizing the people to combat it.”


662. “Muž by měl mít dům poblíž svého rodiště, kde by našel klid, který jinde postrádá.”


663. “No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.” — Nelson Mandela


664. “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.” —Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela


665. Love others


666. “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. -Nelson Mandela, activist, South African president, Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1918)”


667. “I did not have an unlimited library to choose from on Robben Island. We had access to many unremembered mysteries and detective novels and all the works of Daphne du Maurier, but little more.”


668. “Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs. ”


669. “the land of their birth; the Urban Areas Act of”


670. “Money won’t create success. The freedom to make it will. ” — Nelson Mandela


671. “Educating all of our children must be one of our most urgent priorities.”— Nelson Mandela


672. “I dream of an Africa, which is in peace with itself.” — Nelson Mandela


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


674. “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.”


675. “You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution. ”-Nelson Mandela


676. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up. ”


677. “Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation.”


678. “I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope.”


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


680. “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies. ” — Nelson Mandela


681. 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.”


682. “The most difficult matter is not so much to change the world as yourself. ”


683. “Even behind prison walls I can see the heavy clouds and the blue sky over the horizon.” – Nelson Mandela


684. Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. - Nelson Mandela


685. “all remained loyal to him, not because they always agreed with him, but because the regent listened to and respected different opinions.”


686. “Where you stand depends on where you sit. ”-Nelson Mandela


687. Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty.”


688. “A leader. . . is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” – Nelson Mandela


689. “It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea.”


690. “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.”


691. “I discovered for the first time people of my own age firmly aligned with the liberation struggle, who were prepared, despite their relative privilege, to sacrifice themselves of the cause of the oppressed.”


692. “As a leader of a mass organization, one must listen to the people.”


693. “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. “


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


695. “It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.”


696. “Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.”


697. It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.”


698. “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world”


699. “Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.”


700. I never lose. I either win or learn.”


701. “When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat. ” — Nelson Mandela


702. “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.” – Nelson Mandela, former South African president and revolutionary


703. “Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.”


704. “I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now and will do so until the end of my days. ”


705. “Nelson Mandela wrote, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”


706. “Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.”


707. “A leader … is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” –Nelson Mandela


708. We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.”


709. “I have retired, but if there is anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.”


710. “In my language there is a saying: “Ndiwelimilambo enamagama” (I have crossed famous rivers). It means that one has traveled a great distance, that one has had wide experience and gained some wisdom from it.”


711. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” -Nelson Mandela


712. “Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation”


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


714. “But I had little knowledge of Marxism, and in political discussions with my communist friends I found myself handicapped by my ignorance of their philosophy. I decided to remedy this.”


715. “A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar. ” — Nelson Mandela


716. “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”


717. I learned that to humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessarily cruel fate. Even as a boy, I defeated my opponents without dishonoring them.”


718. “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” ―Nelson Mandela


719. “Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.”


720. Make mistakes


721. “« L’éducation est l’arme la plus puissante que vous pouvez utiliser pour changer le monde. »”


722. “It reaffirmed my long-held belief that education was the enemy of prejudice. These were men and women of science, and science had no room for racism.”


723. “I am the product of Africa and her long-cherished view of rebirth that can now be realized so that all of her children may play in the sun. ” — Nelson Mandela


724. “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” – Nelson Mandela


725. “A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special. ”-Nelson Mandela


726. The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.” – Nelson Mandela


727. “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.”


728. “Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished”


729. “Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people. ”-Nelson Mandela


730. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. “


731. “Politics can be strengthened by music, but music has a potency that defies politics.”


732. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” ~ Nelson Mandela


733. “A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” — Nelson Mandela


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


735. “A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed. ”


736. “Difficulties break some men but make others. ”


737. “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.”


738. “We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. ”-Nelson Mandela


739. “Prison is a still point in a turning world, and it is very easy to remain in the same place in jail while the world moves on.”


740. “I could not imagine that the future I was walking toward could compare in any way to the past that I was leaving behind.”


741. Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.”


742. “Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it. ”-Nelson Mandela


743. “It always seems impossible, until it is done.”


744. “When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat. ”-Nelson Mandela


745. “It is so easy to break down and destroy. The heroes are those who make peace and build. ”


746. “Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.” –Nelson Mandela, South African Leader


747. “A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” - Nelson Mandela


748. “Education is the great engine to personal development.” — Nelson Mandela


749. ”I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela


750. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”


751. “Nothing is black or white.”


752. “But the hard facts were that fifty years of non-violence had brought the African people nothing but more and more repressive legislation, and fewer and fewer rights.”


753. “Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.”


754. “Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.”


755. “Forget the past.”


756. “We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom. We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success. We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world. Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all.”


757. “Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility. ” – Nelson Mandela


758. “In that moment, something stirred deep inside all of us, something strong and intimate, that bound us to one another. In that moment we felt the hand of the great past that made us what we were and the power of the great cause that linked us all together.”


759. “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.”


760. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”


761. “Although it was not published while I was in prison, it forms the spine of this memoir.”


762. “I have retired, but if there’s anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.”


763. “I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days.”


764. “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.”


765. “I never lose. I either win or learn.” – Nelson MandelaI never lose. I either win or learn Nelson Mandela


766. “In my country, we go to prison first and then become President.”


767. “It was one of the first times that I saw that it was foolhardy to go against the masses of people. It is no use to take an action to which the masses are opposed, for it will then be impossible to enforce.”


768. “There is nobody more dangerous than one who has been humiliated.”


769. “I never lose. I either win or learn.”


770. “While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.” —Ambassador of Conscience Award Acceptance Speech, November 01, 2006


771. “As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself… Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.” ~ Nelson Mandela


772. “Western civilization has not entirely rubbed off my African background. ” — Nelson Mandela


773. “Resentment is a method of self harm.


774. “No matter what I suffered in my pursuit of freedom, I always took strength from the fact that I was fighting with and for my own people. Bram was a free man who fought against his own people to ensure the freedom of others”


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


776. “A leader. . .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” —Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela


777. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.” ―Nelson Mandela


778. “Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front. ”


779. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”


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


781. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela


782. “Democracy meant all men were to be heard, and a decision was taken together as a people. Majority rule was a foreign notion. A minority was not to be crushed by a majority.”


783. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. ”-Nelson Mandela


784. Nelson Mandela quote on trusting yourself and your abilities


785. “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. ”


786. “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. ” — Nelson Mandela


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


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


789. “The collapse of good conscience and the absence of accountability and public scrutiny have led to crimes against humanity and violations of international law.” ~ Nelson Mandela


790. “One subject we hearkened back to again and again was the question of whether there were tigers in Africa.”


791. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela


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


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


794. I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.”


795. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart”


796. “Ironically, it was the regent himself who was indirectly to blame for this, for it was the education he had afforded me that had caused me to reject such traditional customs”


797. “I learned that to humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessarily cruel fate. Even as a boy, I defeated my opponents without dishonoring them. ”-Nelson Mandela


798. “Together we must set out to correct the defects of the past. ” — Nelson Mandela


799. “Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation. ”-Nelson Mandela


800. “Success in politics demands that you must take your people into confidence about your views and state them very clearly, very politely, very calmly, but nevertheless, state them openly. ”-Nelson Mandela

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