“I started to make a study of the art of war and revolution and, whilst abroad, underwent a course in military training. If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them.”
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
“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.”
“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.”
“If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.”
“Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.”
“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.”
“Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.”
“There is nothing I fear more than waking up without a program that will help me bring a little happiness to those with no resources, those who are poor, illiterate, and ridden with terminal disease.”
“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.”
“Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.”
“Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.”
“Communists have always played an active role in the fight by colonial countries for their freedom, because the short-term objects of Communism would always correspond with the long-term objects of freedom movements.”
“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.”
“Only free men can negotiate prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.”
“There is no such thing as part freedom.”
“Our single most important challenge is therefore to help establish a social order in which the freedom of the individual will truly mean the freedom of the individual.”
“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.”
“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”
“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.”
“Nonviolence is a good policy when the conditions permit.”
“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 defenceless people.”
“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Sometimes, I feel like one who is on the sidelines, who has missed life itself.”
“I made a mistake by being ejected from the presidency. Next time, I will choose a Cabinet which will allow me to be life President.”
“I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites.”
“Give a child love, laughter and peace, not AIDS.”
“Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.”
“I have retired, but if there's anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.”
“Forget the past.”
“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
“Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.”
“I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.”
“Intervention only works when the people concerned seem to be keen for peace.”
“If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don't ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers.”
“Before I went to jail, I was active in politics as a member of South Africa's leading organization - and I was generally busy from 7 A.M. until midnight. I never had time to sit and think.”
“There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.”
“I should tie myself to no particular system of society other than of socialism.”
“Does anybody really think that they didn't get what they had because they didn't have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment?”
“We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”
“I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife.”
“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.”