"The freedom we enjoy is a richly textured gift handcrafted by ordinary folk"
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Quote collection
Nelson Mandela quotes (page 25 of 34)
666 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"The victory of democracy in South Africa is the common achievement of all humanity."
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"When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both."
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"Like all Xhosa children, I acquired knowledge mainly through observation. We were meant to learn through imitation and emulation, not through questions. When I first visited the homes of whites, I was often dumbfounded by the number and nature of questions that children asked of their parents-and their parents' unfailing willingness to answer them. In my household, questions were considered a nuisance; adults imparted information as they considered necessary."
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"There are people here [in South Africa] who, whatever the debate is on a particular issue, their dominating idea is that at the end of the debate we must emerge stronger than we were before and closer to one another."
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"What we did was to try and exploit that spirit [the idea of giving], which was there even before I approached individual South Africans [to give to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund]. I think we must start from that angle."
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"I understand that the legal position is under review in South Africa and that there will soon be a broader set of organizations to which donors can give and claim tax deductions."
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"If we want any significant development, we must co-opt civil society."
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"The message of reconciliation, of nation-building, of granting amnesty, indemnity, has struck a powerful, favorable chord. And people can understand that we're here not for purposes of retribution but to forget the past and to build our country."
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"The Liberty Bell is "a very significant symbol for the entire democratic world.""
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"In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility."
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"The calm and tolerant atmosphere that prevailed during the elections depicts the type of South Africa we can build. It set the tone for the future. We might have our differences, but we are one people with a common destiny in our rich variety of culture, race and tradition."
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"The curious beauty about African music is that it uplifts even as it tells a sad story."
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"I am fundamentally an optimist."
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"Let the efforts of us all, prove that he [Martin Luther King] was not a mere dreamer when he spoke of the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace being more precious than diamonds or silver or gold"
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"The greatest single challenge facing our globalised world is to combat and eradicate its disparities."
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"Adversity cleanses the lethargies of man"
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"At the meeting I argued that the state had given us no alternative to violence. I said it was wrong and immoral to subject our people to armed attacks by the state without offering them some kind of alternative. I mentioned again that people on their own had taken up arms. Violence would begin whether we initiated it or not. Would it not be better to guide this violence ourselves, according to principles where we saved lives by attacking symbols of oppression, and not people? If we did not take the lead now, I said, we would soon be latecomers and followers to a movement we did not control."
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"[I] read Anne Frank's diary [while imprisoned] on Robben Island and derived much encouragement from it."
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"The death sentence is a barbaric act . . . It is a reflection of the animal instinct still in human beings."
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