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30 Nelson Mandela Quotes That Will Transform Your Life

Nelson Rolihhalha Mandela was born in the Transkei, South Africa on 18 July 1918. As a young man, Mandela moved to Johannesburg and studied law. In 1944, he joined the African National Congress and became active against the apartheid policy of racial segregation installed in the country by the Afrikaner-dominated National Party. In 1959, the South African parliament passed new laws that extended racial isolation and created separate homeland only for the major black groups in South Africa.

Following the Sharpeville Massacre, Mandela created the ANC’s military wing – the Umkhonto guerilla movement. Mandela was arrested in 1962 after living in exile for 17 months and later imprisoned in Johannesburg Fort. He was released in 1990 after 27 years of imprisonment. He became the president of the African National Congress (ANC), dismantled the apartheid system and in 1993 he was awarded the Nobel peace prize.

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  • Nelson Mandela has been recognized as a true statesman and as a man with profound principle who worked for the cause of many throughout the world. He dedicated his whole life believing in Justice. The way he tackled the racial segregation, brought South Africans together and his fight against AIDS earned him great respect and admiration.

    Nelson Mandela Documentary

    His powerful words had a profound impact not only in South Africa or in the African countries, but millions of people worldwide started identifying themselves in his words. Mandela died in 2013, but his powerful words will continue to live on.

    Go through our Nelson Mandela quotes and discover the man who changed the face of the African continent in the late 90s.

    A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

    Nelson Mandela

    After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

    Nelson Mandela

    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.

    Nelson Mandela

    Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.

    Nelson Mandela

    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.

    Nelson Mandela

    It always seems impossible until its done.

    Nelson Mandela

    In my country we go to prison first and then become President.

    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

    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

    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.

    Nelson Mandela

    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.

    Nelson Mandela

    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?

    Nelson Mandela

    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.

    Nelson Mandela

    I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.

    Nelson Mandela

    I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.

    Nelson Mandela

    I cannot conceive of Israel withdrawing if Arab states do not recognize Israel, within secure borders.

    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

    Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

    Nelson Mandela

    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.

    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

    When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.

    Nelson Mandela

    We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.

    Nelson Mandela

    There is no such thing as part freedom.

    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 can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.

    Nelson Mandela

    Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.

    Nelson Mandela

    Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.

    Nelson Mandela

    Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.

    Nelson Mandela

    Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.

    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

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