Nelson Mandela Quotes

Fools multiply when wise men are silent.

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.

I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.

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

I have always regarded myself, in the first place, as an African patriot.

You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself.

You know, you can only lead them from behind.

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.

Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.

Our fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure.

There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile to continue talking about peace and non-violence against a government whose only reply is savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people.

Great anger and violence can never build a nation.

I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses.

I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.

Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea.