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Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela Quotes

Former President of South Africa

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Famous Nelson Mandela Quotes

“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. I owe it to their widows, to their orphans, to their mothers and their fathers, who have grieved and wept for them ..... Not only have I suffered during these long lonely wasted years. I am no less life-loving than you are. But I cannot sell the birthright of the people to be free ....... Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.”

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Book:Nelson Mandela: from freedom to the future : tributes and speeches
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“There are so many men and women who hold no distinctive positions but whose contribution towards the development of society has been enormous. Some of them are not known even in their own countries, but when you come across them you are very impressed. Those are heroes or heroines we must never forget. Because of their service to society, you can't really help but admire them.”

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Author:Nelson Mandela
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“I've found that South Africa has produced good leaders. These are people who realize that when there is danger, they should be in the forefront and when there is victory to be celebrated, they should be in the background, allowing their colleagues and the ordinary civilians - the man in the street - to rejoice and to celebrate that victory.”

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Author:Nelson Mandela
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“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.”

MenInspirationalFeelsDoeFearInspiringEmotionPovertyCourageGreatnessPoliticianOvercomingBraveryIndependentBraveAbsenceConquerTriumphOver ItCourageousNot AfraidJustificationBe BraveNo FearOvercoming FearHave CourageBeing AfraidFear NotApartheidBrave ManTriumphantBe CourageousFamous InspirationalHave No FearDo Not FearGreatest FearFear And CourageInspirational MilitaryFace Your FearsFear CourageBravery And CourageLove And FearFears Of LifeCourage StrengthFacing FearConquering FearLong Walk To FreedomInspirational CourageBravery And FearDoubt And FearTrue CourageYour AbsenceConquer Your FearsEducation And FreedomShort CourageBe Strong And CourageousBravery And StrengthFear No ManFunny CourageFeel The Fear And Do It AnywayHope CourageTriumph Over AdversityBrave And StrongBrave Face
Book:Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom
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“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.”

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Author:Nelson Mandela
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“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. Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice... Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”

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Author:Nelson Mandela
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“I shall stick to our vow: never, never under any circumstances, to say anything unbecoming of the other...The trouble, of course, is that most successful men are prone to some form of vanity. There comes a stage in their lives when they consider it permissible to be egotistic and to brag to the public at large about their unique achievements.”

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Book:Conversations With Myself
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“Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.”

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Author:Nelson Mandela
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“It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. 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.”

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Author:Nelson Mandela
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“I hate racial discrimination most intensely and all its manifestations. I have fought all my life; I fight now, and will do so until the end of my days. Even although I now happen to be tried by one, whose opinion I hold in high esteem, I detest most violently the set-up that surrounds me here. It makes me feel that I am a Black man in a White man's court. This should not be I should feel perfectly at ease and at home with the assurance that I am being tried by a fellow South African, who does not regard me as an inferior, entitled to a special type of justice.”

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Book:We Accuse: The Trial of Nelson Mandela
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