Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace.
100+ Best Nelson Mandela Quotes & Wishes
Nelson Mandela Quotes quotes gather warm, thoughtful lines for readers looking for the right words. Copy a favourite or download it as a free image card to share with someone today.
Updated: October 2026
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I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.
Money won't create success. The freedom to make it will.
Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.
It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.
A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.
Young people are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom.
One of the most difficult things is not to change society, but to change yourself.
We were expected to destroy one another and ourselves collectively in the worst racial conflagration. Instead, we as a people chose the path of negotiation, compromise and peaceful settlement.
Safety and security don't just happen. They are the result of collective consensus and public investment.
True reconciliation does not consist in merely forgetting the past.
Reconciliation means working together to correct the legacy of past injustice.
A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy.
No single person can liberate a country. You can only liberate a country if you act as a collective.
I have always regarded myself, in the first place, as an African patriot.
To be an African in South Africa means that one is politicized from the moment of one's birth.
In my country we go to prison first and then become president.
A traveller through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him.
I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent.
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.
I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.
No power on earth can stop an oppressed people determined to win their freedom.
Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression.
There is no such thing as part freedom.
I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations.
I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.
We are fighting for a society where people will cease thinking in terms of colour.
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.
Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
I will not leave South Africa, nor will I surrender. Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant action can freedom be won.
The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.
I did not enjoy the violence of boxing so much as the science of it. I was intrigued by how one moved one's body to protect oneself, how one used a strategy both to attack and retreat.
It is never my custom to use words lightly.
I have always believed that exercise is the key not only to physical health but to peace of mind.
Boxing is egalitarian. In the ring, rank, age, colour, and wealth are irrelevant.
I always knew that someday I would once again feel the grass under my feet and walk in the sunshine as a free man.
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 dishonouring them.
The cell is an ideal place to learn to know yourself, to search realistically and regularly the process of your own mind and feelings.
Prison life is about routine: each day like the one before; each week like the one before it, so that the months and years blend into each other.
I saw men and women risk and give their lives for an idea. I saw men stand up to attacks and torture without breaking, showing a strength and resiliency that defies the imagination.
Even in the grimmest times in prison, when my comrades and I were pushed to our limits, I would see a glimmer of humanity in one of the guards, perhaps just for a second, but it was enough to reassure me and keep me going.
I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.
I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people.
A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.
It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea.
Appearances matter — and remember to smile.
It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory and when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger.
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.
To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.
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.
Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.
While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.
Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made, and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.
Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.
If there is anything that would kill me, it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.
As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.
It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine.
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.