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 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

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 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.

Nelson Mandela

I hope the record will be accurate, because it shows what other groups did for all of us.

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 knew we could improve our lives even in jail. We could come out as different men, and we could even come out with two degrees. Educating ourselves was a way to give ourselves the most powerful weapon for freedom.

Nelson Mandela

I know that, throughout the world, there are good men and women concerned with the greatest challenges facing society today – poverty, illiteracy, and disease.

Nelson Mandela

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. I felt fear myself more times than I can remember, but I hid it behind a mask of boldness. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

Nelson Mandela

I learned to have the patience to listen when people put forward their views, even if I think those views are wrong. You can’t reach a just decision in a dispute unless you listen to both sides.

Nelson Mandela