Selected Quotes By Nelson Mandela
"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."
Nelson Mandela, Problems
"Appearances matter — and remember to smile."
Nelson Mandela, Life
"One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others."
Nelson Mandela, Management
"Where you stand depends on where you sit."
Nelson Mandela, Life
"A winner is a dreamer who never gives up."
Nelson Mandela, Success
"May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears."
Nelson Mandela, Goals
"It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones."
Nelson Mandela, Society
"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."
Nelson Mandela, Management
"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... Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility."
Nelson Mandela, Life
"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, Life
"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, Life
"I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying."
Nelson Mandela, Goals
"As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison."
Nelson Mandela, Freedom
"Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front."
Nelson Mandela, Management
"I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. 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, Freedom, Life
"Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."
Nelson Mandela, Success
"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."
Nelson Mandela, Life
"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, Freedom
"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."
Nelson Mandela, Life
"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."
Nelson Mandela, Love
"I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death."
Nelson Mandela, Success, Life, Death
"It always seems impossible until it's done."
Nelson Mandela, Goals
"A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special."
Nelson Mandela, Intelligence/Wisdom, Kindness
"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, Courage
"When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw."
Nelson Mandela, Freedom, Life
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
Nelson Mandela, Intelligence/Wisdom
"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, Freedom
"The brave man is not the one who has no fears, he is the one who triumphs over his fears."
Nelson Mandela, Courage
"Tread softly, Breathe peacefully, Laugh hysterically."
Nelson Mandela, Life
"We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right."
Nelson Mandela, Time
"It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another."
Nelson Mandela, Life
"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, Life
"People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite... Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished."
Nelson Mandela, Love
"Quitting is leading too."
Nelson Mandela, Management
"Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?"
Nelson Mandela, Goals
"Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs."
Nelson Mandela, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation."
Nelson Mandela, Success
"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, Freedom, Goals
"I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope."
Nelson Mandela, Life
"It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success."
Nelson Mandela, Goals, Success
"Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport."
Nelson Mandela, Anger and Fighting
"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children."
Nelson Mandela, Society
"Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me."
Nelson Mandela, Freedom
"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, Life
"In my country we go to prison first and then become president."
Nelson Mandela, Government
"Nothing is black or white."
Nelson Mandela, Life
"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, Freedom
"One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen."
Nelson Mandela, Life
"You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution."
Nelson Mandela, Kindness
"Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening."
Nelson Mandela, Life
"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Nelson Mandela, Freedom
"Courage is not the absence of fear — it s inspiring others to move beyond it."