Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 and is widely regarded as one of the great moral leaders of the twentieth century. Born in 1918 in Mvezo, he led the African National Congress's resistance to apartheid, was imprisoned for twenty-seven years (most of them on Robben Island), and emerged in 1990 to lead negotiations that ended white minority rule. His autobiography Long Walk to Freedom and his speeches — including the Rivonia Trial speech of 1964 ('I am prepared to die') and his 1994 inauguration address — are among the most-cited texts of modern political philosophy. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and died in Johannesburg in 2013.

116

quotes in library

Quotes by Nelson Mandela

116 quotes
In every reconciliation, both sides surrender something.
reconciliationLong Walk to Freedom
That surrender is not weakness. It is the highest strength.
surrenderLong Walk to Freedom
There can be no peace without justice. No reconciliation without truth.
peaceSpeeches
In Africa, we have a concept known as ubuntu — the fundamental belief that I am because we are.
ubuntuSpeeches
You can never have an idea of who you are until you have tested yourself.
identityLong Walk to Freedom
Children are our most precious resource. Protect them.
childrenSpeeches
Education is the great engine of personal development.
educationLong Walk to Freedom
It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor.
educationLong Walk to Freedom
That the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine.
educationLong Walk to Freedom
That the child of farmworkers can become the president.
educationLong Walk to Freedom
It is not the kings and generals that make history, but the masses of the people.
historySpeeches
It is the workers and farmers, the doctors and clerks, the teachers and students.
historySpeeches
The mothers and the fathers and the children.
historySpeeches
In their daily lives they make the world.
worldSpeeches
Freedom is the condition of all forms of human flourishing.
freedomLong Walk to Freedom
Without it, no one is fully alive.
freedomLong Walk to Freedom
To live is to be in the long struggle for justice.
livingLong Walk to Freedom
Beloved, the work is yours now.
workSpeeches
In every dawn, a new chance to be free.
dawnLong Walk to Freedom
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