Nelson Mandela Quotes About Life, Education, Leadership, Freedom, Love, Change, Hope, Fear, Courage, & Death! Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa, ruled from 1994 to 1999 as a human rights activist, politician, and philanthropist. Throughout the world, Mandela’s legacy serves as a light of hope and healing and a powerful reminder of the human spirit’s ability to overcome unimaginable obstacles. On July 18, 1918, Nelson Mandela was born in Mbabane, South Africa, into a royal family of the Thembu tribe.
It made him the first in his family to complete formal education. After becoming the president of the African National Congress (ANC), Nelson Mandela made it his mission to provide free, standard education for black people to improve their standard of life.
A strong belief in individuals’ equal rights and possibilities from all occupations, Mandela was an heir apparent to Gandhi’s legacy. When faced with adversity, he stood up for what he believed in with unwavering determination. Nelson Mandela was condemned to 27 years in jail for his efforts to demolish South Africa’s apartheid state after almost being killed for his opposition to the government’s segregationist practices.
Robben Island Prison was where he spent the first 18 years. His unwavering belive in the healing power of empathy, honesty, and communication was a hallmark of Mandela’s life. His graciousness toward his former captors won the affection of South Africans and the rest of the globe, which substantially helped the transition to democracy in his country. On December 5, 2013, a human rights activist and famous politician died.
Best Nelson Mandela Quotes
1. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”-Nelson Mandela
2. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”-Nelson Mandela
3. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”-Nelson Mandela
4. “One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.”-Nelson Mandela
5. “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”-Nelson Mandela
6. “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”-Nelson Mandela
7. “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
8. “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”-Nelson Mandela
9. “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. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”-Nelson Mandela
10. “Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.”-Nelson Mandela
11. “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”-Nelson Mandela
12. “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
13. “As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself.”-Nelson Mandela
14. “Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”-Nelson Mandela
15. “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.”-Nelson Mandela
16. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”-Nelson Mandela
17. “Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.”-Nelson Mandela
18. “I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, Henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.”-Nelson Mandela
19. “I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now and will do so until the end of my days.”-Nelson Mandela
20. “Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation.”-Nelson Mandela
21. “It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”-Nelson Mandela
22. “We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”-Nelson Mandela
23. “There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status.”-Nelson Mandela
24. “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
25. “I never lose. I either win or learn.”-Nelson Mandela
26. “I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.”-Nelson Mandela
27. “Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”-Nelson Mandela
28. “I learned that to humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessarily cruel fate. Even as a boy, I defeated my opponents without dishonoring them.”-Nelson Mandela
29. “Although I am a gregarious person, I love solitude even more.”-Nelson Mandela
30. “As long as many of our people still live in utter poverty, as long as children still live under plastic covers, as long as many of our people are still without jobs, no South African should rest and wallow in the joy of freedom.”-Nelson Mandela
