Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. Before he became the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election, Mandela served 27 years in prison, split between Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison, and Victor Verster Prison. He declined a second presidential term, and in 1999 was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, Mandela became an elder statesman and focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Some of the best quotes from Nelson Mandela are listed below.

“A blind pursuit of cheap popularity has nothing to do with revolution.” – Nelson Mandela
“A child is born free.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“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
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” – Nelson Mandela
“A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.” – Nelson Mandela
“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” – Nelson Mandela
“All remained loyal to him, not because they always agreed with him, but because the regent listened to and respected different opinions.” – Nelson Mandela
“Although I am a gregarious person, I love solitude even more.” – Nelson Mandela
“Appearances matter-and remember to smile.” – Nelson Mandela
“As a leader, one must sometimes take actions that are unpopular, or whose results will not be known for years to come.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Nelson Mandela
“As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“Courageous people do not fear forgiving for the sake of peace.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“Difficulties break some men but make others.” – Nelson Mandela
“Do not judge me by my successes. Judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” – Nelson Mandela
“Education is the great engine of personal development.” – Nelson Mandela
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
“Even as a boy, I defeated my opponents without dishonoring them.” – Nelson Mandela
“Even in the grimmest times in prison, when my comrades and I were pushed to our limits, I would see a glimmer of humanity in one of the guards, perhaps just for a second, but it was enough to reassure me and keep me going.” – Nelson Mandela
“Fools multiply when wise men are silent.” – Nelson Mandela
“For a revolution is not just a question of pulling a trigger; its purpose is to create a fair and just society.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“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
“Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.” – Nelson Mandela
“Great thinking comes from a great mind.” – Nelson Mandela
“He knew when to compromise, yet he never compromised his principles. He was a militant, yet a militant who knew how to plan, assess concrete situations, and emerge with rational solutions to problems.” – Nelson Mandela
“Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others-qualities which are within reach of every soul-are the foundation of one’s spiritual life.” – Nelson Mandela
“I again realized that we were not different people with separate languages; we were one people, with different tongues.” – Nelson Mandela
“I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity.” – Nelson Mandela
“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say.” – Nelson Mandela
“I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.” – Nelson Mandela
“I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“I am not what happened to me; I am what I choose to become.” – Nelson Mandela
“I am the captain of my soul.” – Nelson Mandela
“I am the master of my fate and the captain of my destiny.” – Nelson Mandela
“I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.” – Nelson Mandela
“I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom.” – Nelson Mandela
“I could not imagine that the future I was walking toward could compare in any way to the past that I was leaving behind.” – Nelson Mandela
“I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.” – Nelson Mandela
“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 anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people.” – 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.” – Nelson Mandela
“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way.” – Nelson Mandela
“I knew, as well as I knew anything, that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed.” – Nelson Mandela
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” – Nelson Mandela
“I learned that to humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessarily cruel fate.” – Nelson Mandela
“I never lose. I either win or learn.” – Nelson Mandela
“I realized that they could take everything from me except my mind and my heart. They could not take those things. Those things, I still had control over, and I decided not to give them away.” – Nelson Mandela
“I shall stick to our vow-never, never under any circumstances, to say anything unbecoming of the other.” – Nelson Mandela
“I was a young man who attempted to make up for his ignorance with militancy.” – Nelson Mandela
“I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.” – Nelson Mandela
“If I had my time, over I would do the same again; so would any man who dares call himself a man.” – Nelson Mandela
“If wealth is a magnet, poverty is a kind of repellent.” – 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
“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then, he becomes your partner.” – Nelson Mandela
“In my country, we go to prison first and then become President.” – Nelson Mandela
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“It is music and dancing that make me at peace with the world.” – Nelson Mandela
“It is not where you start, but how high you aim that matters for success.” – Nelson Mandela
“It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.” – Nelson Mandela
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.’” – Nelson Mandela
“Know your enemy-and learn about his favorite sport.” – Nelson Mandela
“Lead from the back and let others believe they are in front.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“Let your courage rise with danger.” – Nelson Mandela
“Life has a way of forcing decisions on those who vacillate.” – Nelson Mandela
“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural.” – Nelson Mandela
“Like the gardener, a leader must take responsibility for what he cultivates; he must mind his work, try to repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved, and eliminate what cannot succeed.” – Nelson Mandela
“Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.” – Nelson Mandela
“Losing a sense of time is an easy way to lose one’s grip and even one’s sanity.” – Nelson Mandela
“Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.” – Nelson Mandela
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.” – Nelson Mandela
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.” – Nelson Mandela
“No single person can liberate a country. You can only liberate a country if you act as a collective.” – Nelson Mandela
“Nonviolence is a good policy when conditions permit.” – Nelson Mandela
“Nothing is black or white.” – Nelson Mandela
“Once a person is determined to help themselves, there is nothing that can stop them.” – Nelson Mandela
“One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.” – Nelson Mandela
“One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.” – Nelson Mandela
“Only free men can negotiate; prisoners can’t enter into contracts.” – Nelson Mandela
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” – Nelson Mandela
“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity. It is an act of justice.” – Nelson Mandela
“Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“Peace is the greatest weapon for development that any person can have.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“Politics can be strengthened by music, but music has a potency that defies politics.” – Nelson Mandela
“Prison is designed to break one’s spirit and destroy one’s resolve.” – Nelson Mandela
“Quitting is leading too.” – Nelson Mandela
“Resentment is a method of self harm.” – Nelson Mandela
“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“Sometimes, it falls on a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“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
“The grave plight of the people compels them to resist to the death the stinking policies of the gangsters that rule our country.” – Nelson Mandela
“The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.” – Nelson Mandela
“The purpose of freedom is to create it for others.” – Nelson Mandela
“The trouble, of course, is that most successful men are prone to some form of vanity.” – Nelson Mandela
“The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning.” – Nelson Mandela
“The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free-the right not to be oppressed.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” – Nelson Mandela
“There comes a stage in their lives when they consider it permissible to be egoistic and to brag to the public at large about their unique achievements.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“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
“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
“There is no such thing as part freedom.” – Nelson Mandela
“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“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.” – Nelson Mandela
“There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.” – Nelson Mandela
“To be the father of a nation is a great honor, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy.” – Nelson Mandela
“Tread softly. Breathe peacefully. Laugh hysterically.” – Nelson Mandela
“Violence was the only weapon that would destroy apartheid.” – Nelson Mandela
“We do not want freedom without bread, nor do we want bread without freedom.” – Nelson Mandela
“We forgive, but not forget.” – Nelson Mandela
“We fought injustice wherever we found it, no matter how large or how small; and we fought injustice to preserve our own humanity.” – Nelson Mandela
“We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road.” – Nelson Mandela
“We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” – Nelson Mandela
“We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” – Nelson Mandela
“We owe our children-the most vulnerable citizens in any society-a life free from violence and fear.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned?” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“When the water starts boiling, it is foolish to turn off the heat.” – Nelson Mandela
“When you are young and strong, you can stay alive on your hatred.” – Nelson Mandela
“Where you stand depends on where you sit.” – Nelson Mandela
“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
“You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.” – Nelson Mandela
“Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?” – Nelson Mandela
“Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands.” – Nelson Mandela

Tags: Quotes