200+ Best Nelson Mandela Quotes To Inspire You

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election.

Nelson Mandela Quotes

1. Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
2. “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”
3. “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.”
4. “I never lose. I either win or learn.”
5. “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice.”
6. “We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.”
7. “I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.”
8. "The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
9. “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.”
10. “You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.”
11. “Nothing is black or white.”
12. “When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.”
13. “Fools multiply when wise men are silent.”
14. “It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”
15. “Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.”
16. “There is no such thing as part freedom.”
17. “It always seems impossible until it's done.”
18. “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
19. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”
20. “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.”
21. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”
22. “Courage is not the absence of fear — it's inspiring others to move beyond it.”
23. “Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.”
24. “And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
25. “We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”
26. “No single person can liberate a country. You can only liberate a country if you act as a collective.”
27. “Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”
28. "Let your courage rise with danger."
29. “Difficulties break some men but make others.”
30. “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.”
31. “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”
32. “Appearances matter — and remember to smile.”
33. “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.”
34. “It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success.”
35. “The brave man is not the one who has no fears, he is the one who triumphs over his fears.”
36. “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”
37. “Success in politics demands that you must take your people into confidence about your views and state them very clearly, very politely, very calmly, but nevertheless, state them openly.”
38. “Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.”
39. “As a leader, one must sometimes take actions that are unpopular, or whose results will not be known for years to come.”
40. “It was a useful reminder that all men, even the most seemingly cold-blooded, have a core of decency and that if their heart is touched, they are capable of changing.”
41. “If I had my time over I would do the same again, so would any man who dares call himself a man.”
42. “It is in your hands, to make a better world for all who live in it.”
43. “I am not a saint unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”
44. “In my country, we go to prison first and then become President.”
45. “I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope.”
46. “I am the master of my fate and the captain of my destiny.”
47. “Peace is the greatest weapon for development that any person can have.”“I could not imagine that the future I was walking toward could compare in any way to the past that I was leaving behind.”
48. “I could not imagine that the future I was walking toward could compare in any way to the past that I was leaving behind.”
49. “Only free men can negotiate, prisoners can't enter into contracts.”
50. “We forgive but not forget.”
51. “I realized that they could take everything from me except my mind and my heart. They could not take those things. Those things I still had control over. And I decided not to give them away.”
52. “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.”
53. “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.”
54. “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”
55. "Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity, and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty."
56. "Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people."
57. "Losing a sense of time is an easy way to lose one’s grip and even one’s sanity."
58. "There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way."
59. “Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.”
60. “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.”
61. “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”
62. “Where you stand depends on where you sit.”
63. “One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.”
64. “One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.”
65. “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
66. “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.”
67. “Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport.”
68. “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.”
69. “I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.”
70. “Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.”
71. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”
72. “It always seems impossible until it's done.”
73. "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
74. “One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.”
75. “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.”
76. “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
77. “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.”
78. “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”
79. "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.”
80. “Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.”
81. “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”
82. "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.”
83. "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.”
84. "Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”
85. "It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.”
86. "A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”
87. “Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.”
88. "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.”
89. “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.”
90. "Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation.”
91. "It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”
92. "We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”
93. "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.”
94. "I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A person does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards.”
95. "I never lose. I either win or learn.”
96. "I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.”
97. "Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”
98. "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.”
99. "Although I am a gregarious person, I love solitude even more.”
100. "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.”
101. "Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. 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."
102. "It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.”
103. "A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”
104. "The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
105. "Where you stand depends on where you sit."
106. "I am the captain of my soul."
107. "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."
108. "Appearances matter — and remember to smile."
109. "After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."
110. "Nothing is black or white."
111. "Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility."
112. "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."
113. "There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children."
114. "Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport."
115. "Quitting is leading too."
116. "When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat."
117. "It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success."
118. "Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer."
119. "Let your greatness blossom."
120. "Tread softly, breathe peacefully, laugh hysterically."
121. "I love playing and chatting with children…feeding and putting them to bed with a little story, and being away from the family has troubled me throughout my…life. I like relaxing at the house, reading quietly, taking in the sweet smell that comes from the pots, sitting around a table with the family and taking out my wife and children. when you can no longer enjoy these simple pleasures something valuable is taken away from your life and you feel it in your daily work."
122. "Success in politics demands that you must take your people into confidence about your views and state them very clearly, very politely, very calmly, but nevertheless, state them openly."
123. "In judging our progress as individuals we tend to concentrate on external factors such as one's social position, influence and popularity, wealth and standard of education. These are, of course, important in measuring one's success in material matters and it is perfectly understandable if many people exert themselves mainly to achieve all these. But internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one's development as a human being. Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others - qualities which are within reach of every soul - are the foundation of one's spiritual life."
124. "In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility."
125. “Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.”
126. “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”
127. “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."
128. “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.”
129. “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.”
130. “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.”
131. “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.”
132. "You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.”
133. "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.”
134. "Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.”
135. "The brave man is not the one who has no fears, he is the one who triumphs over his fears.”
136. "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.”
137. "Men have different capacities and react differently to stress. But the stronger ones raised up the weaker ones, and both became stronger in the process.”
138. "Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty.”
139. "There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal triumph if you have the iron will and the necessary skill.”
140. "We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.”
141. “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.”
142. "Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.”
143. "Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people."
144. "May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”
145. "Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it.”
146. “It is music and dancing that make me at peace with the world.”
147. “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.”
148. “In another conversation, I said, ‘Tell me the truth. When you were leaving prison after twenty-seven years and walking down that road to freedom, didn’t you hate them all over again?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely I did because they’d imprisoned me for so long. I was abused. I didn’t get to see my children grow up. I lost my marriage and the best years of my life. I was angry. And I was afraid because I had not been free in so long. But as I got closer to the car that would take me away, I realized that when I went through that gate, if I still hated them, they would still have me. I wanted to be free. And so I let it go.'”
149. “Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.”
150. “For a revolution is not just a question of pulling a trigger; its purpose is to create a fair just society.”
151. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frighten us.”
152. “He knew when to compromise. Yet he never compromised his principles. He was a militant. Yet a militant who knew how to plan, assess concrete situations and emerge with rational solutions to problems.”
153. “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.”
154. “Life has a way of forcing decisions on those who vacillate.”
155. “It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.”
156. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
157. “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.”
158. "Tread softly, breathe peacefully, laugh hysterically."
159. "In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility."
160. "Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end."
161. "Politics can be strengthened by music, but music has a potency that defies politics."
162. “Non-violence is a good policy when conditions permit.”
163. "We fought injustice wherever we found it, no matter how large, or how small, and we fought injustice to preserve our own humanity."
164. “I was a young man who attempted to make up for his ignorance with militancy.”
165. “A blind pursuit of cheap popularity has nothing to do with revolution."
166. "Before either of us knew it, we were in the same room and in each other’s arms. I kissed and held my wife for the first time in all these many years. It was a moment I had dreamed about a thousand times. It was as if I were still dreaming. I held her to me for what seemed like an eternity. We were still and silent except for the sound of our hearts. I did not want to let go of her at all, but I broke free and embraced my daughter and then took her child into my lap. It had been twenty-one years since I had even touched my wife’s hand.”
167. “To be the father of a nation is a great honor, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy.”
168. "The purpose of freedom is to create it for others."
169. “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”
170. “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”
171. “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.”
172. “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.”
173. “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.”
174. “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.”
175. “There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
176. “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.”
177. “Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water, and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind, and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.”
178. “Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?”
179. “Quitting is leading too.”
180. “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.”
181. “I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A person does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards.”
182. “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner."
183. “Once a person is determined to help themselves, there is nothing that can stop them.”
184. “Education is the great engine of personal development. 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, that a child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”
185. “A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle, and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor. At a point, one can only fight fire with fire.”
186. “Lead from the front — but don't leave your base behind.”
187. “There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal triumph if you have the iron will and the necessary skill.”
188. “I shall stick to our vow: never, never under any circumstances, to say anything unbecoming of the other... The trouble, of course, is that most successful men are prone to some form of vanity. There comes a stage in their lives when they consider it permissible to be egotistic and to brag to the public at large about their unique achievements.”
189. “Although I am a gregarious person, I love solitude even more.”
190. “Like the gardener, a leader must take responsibility for what he cultivates; he must mind his work, try to repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved, and eliminate what cannot succeed.”
191. “It is most unusual to return to a place that has changed in ways you yourself have altered.”
192. “Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”
193. “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.”
194. "Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer."
195. "Men have different capacities and react differently to stress. But the stronger ones raised up the weaker ones, and both became stronger in the process"
196. "Democracy meant all men were to be heard, and a decision was taken together as a people. Majority rule was a foreign notion. A minority was not to be crushed by a majority."
197. “I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.”
198. “It will forever remain an accusation and a challenge to all men and women of conscience that it took as long as it has, before all of us stood up to say enough is enough.”
199. “Violence was the only weapon that would destroy apartheid.”
200. “But the hard facts were that fifty years of non-violence had brought the African people nothing but more and more repressive legislation, and fewer and fewer rights.”
201. “It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.”
202. “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 that I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
203. “I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.”
204. “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.”
205. “I love playing and chatting with children… feeding and putting them to bed with a little story, and being away from the family has troubled me throughout my… life. I like relaxing at the house, reading quietly, taking in the sweet smell that comes from the pots, sitting around a table with the family, and taking out my wife and children. when you can no longer enjoy these simple pleasures something valuable is taken away from your life and you feel it in your daily work.”
206. "In judging our progress as individuals we tend to concentrate on external factors such as one’s social position, influence, popularity, wealth, and standard of education. These are, of course, important in measuring one’s success in material matters and it is perfectly understandable if many people exert themselves mainly to achieve all these. But internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one’s development as a human being. Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others – qualities which are within reach of every soul – are the foundation of one’s spiritual life."
207. “Some mornings I walked out into the courtyard and every living thing there, the seagulls and wagtails, the small trees, and even the stray blades of grass seemed to smile and shine in the sun. It was at such times, when I perceived the beauty of even this small, closed-in corner of the world, that I knew that someday my people and I would be free."
208. “I did not have an unlimited library to choose from on Robben Island. We had access to many unremembered mysteries and detective novels and all the works of Daphne du Maurier, but little more.”
209. “Nonviolent passive resistance is effective as long as your opposition adheres to the same rules as you do. But if peaceful protest is met with violence, its efficacy is at an end. For me, nonviolence was not a moral principle but a strategy; there is no moral goodness in using an ineffective weapon.”
210. “It reaffirmed my long-held belief that education was the enemy of prejudice. These were men and women of science, and science had no room for racism.”
211. "Internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one's development as a human being. Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others - qualities which are within reach of every soul - are the foundation of one's spiritual life.”
212. “Friends, comrades, and fellow South Africans. I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy, and freedom for all! I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people. Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I, therefore, place the remaining years of my life in your hands.”