Nelson Mandela Quotes

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Nelson Mandela

Profession : Statesman

Birth : July 18, 1918

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

Nelson Mandela

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

Nelson Mandela

It always seems impossible until it's done.

Nelson Mandela

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

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

Nelson Mandela

I am confident that nobody... will accuse me of selfishness if I ask to spend time, while I am still in good health, with my family, my friends and also with myself.

Nelson Mandela

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

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

Nelson Mandela

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

Nelson Mandela

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

Nelson Mandela

There are so many men and women who hold no distinctive positions but whose contribution towards the development of society has been enormous.

Nelson Mandela

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

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

Nelson Mandela

Whatever position I occupied, it was the result of colleagues - of my comrades in the movement - who had decided in their wisdom to use me for the purpose of focusing the attention of the country and the international community on me.

Nelson Mandela

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

Nelson Mandela

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

Nelson Mandela

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.

Nelson Mandela

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.

Nelson Mandela

On the first day of school, my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name and said that from thenceforth that was the name we would answer to in school. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education.

Nelson Mandela

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