Quotes By Nelson Mandela

Non-collaboration is a dynamic weapon. We must refuse. We must use it to send this government to the grave.

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 head of the mine, that a child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation.

Our common humanity transcends the oceans and all national boundaries. It binds us together to unite in a common cause against tyranny, to act together in defence of our very humanity. Let it never be asked of anyone of us - what did we do when we knew that another was oppressed!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, Henceforth, I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.

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

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.

The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation.

Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, 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.

No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated. Any nation that is progressive is led by people who have had the privilege of studying.

It is not beyond our power to create a world in which all children have access to a good education. Those who do not believe this have small imaginations.

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.

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

I never lose. I either win or learn.