Nelson Mandela Quotes

“Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.”
― William Ernest Henley, Invictus

“Most people write me off when they see me.
They do not know my story.
They say I am just an African.
They judge me before they get to know me.
What they do not know is
The pride I have in the blood that runs through my veins;
The pride I have in my rich culture and the history of my people;
The pride I have in my strong family ties and the deep connection to my community;
The pride I have in the African music, African art, and African dance;
The pride I have in my name and the meaning behind it.
Just as my name has meaning, I too will live my life with meaning.
So you think I am nothing?
Don’t worry about what I am now,
For what I will be, I am gradually becoming.
I will raise my head high wherever I go
Because of my African pride,
And nobody will take that away from me.”
― idowu koyenikan, Wealth for all Africans: How Every African Can Live the Life of Their Dreams

“You can no longer see or identify yourself solely as a member of a tribe, but as a citizen of a nation of one people working toward a common purpose.”
― idowu koyenikan, Wealth for all Africans: How Every African Can Live the Life of Their Dreams

“When Mandela passed away, the long walk to freedom will be longer and harder. I wish with my tears that every parent tell about Mandela to their children, shall their children grow up firmly and with faith.”
― Professor Pezhman Mosleh

“Once a person is determined to help themselves, there is nothing that can stop them.”
― Nelson Mandela

“Very often the test of one's allegiance to a cause or to a people is precisely the willingness to stay the course when things are boring, to run the risk of repeating an old argument just one more time, or of going one more round with a hostile or (much worse) indifferent audience. I first became involved with the Czech opposition in 1968 when it was an intoxicating and celebrated cause. Then, during the depressing 1970s and 1980s I was a member of a routine committee that tried with limited success to help the reduced forces of Czech dissent to stay nourished (and published). The most pregnant moment of that commitment was one that I managed to miss at the time: I passed an afternoon with Zdenek Mlynar, exiled former secretary of the Czech Communist Party, who in the bleak early 1950s in Moscow had formed a friendship with a young Russian militant with an evident sense of irony named Mikhail Sergeyevitch Gorbachev. In 1988 I was arrested in Prague for attending a meeting of one of Vaclav Havel's 'Charter 77' committees. That outwardly exciting experience was interesting precisely because of its almost Zen-like tedium. I had gone to Prague determined to be the first visiting writer not to make use of the name Franz Kafka, but the numbing bureaucracy got the better of me. When I asked why I was being detained, I was told that I had no need to know the reason! Totalitarianism is itself a cliché (as well as a tundra of pulverizing boredom) and it forced the cliché upon me in turn. I did have to mention Kafka in my eventual story. The regime fell not very much later, as I had slightly foreseen in that same piece that it would. (I had happened to notice that the young Czechs arrested with us were not at all frightened by the police, as their older mentors had been and still were, and also that the police themselves were almost fatigued by their job. This was totalitarianism practically yawning itself to death.) A couple of years after that I was overcome to be invited to an official reception in Prague, to thank those who had been consistent friends through the stultifying years of what 'The Party' had so perfectly termed 'normalization.' As with my tiny moment with Nelson Mandela, a whole historic stretch of nothingness and depression, combined with the long and deep insult of having to be pushed around by boring and mediocre people, could be at least partially canceled and annealed by one flash of humor and charm and generosity.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

“When I look at Africa many questions come to mind, many times I have asked myself what would happen if Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba were to rise up and see what is happening, many times I have asked myself what would happen if Nelson Madiba Mandela were to rise up and see what is happening, because what they will be confronted with is an Africa where the Democratic Republic of Congo is unsettled, there is a war going on there, but it's not on the front pages of our newspapers because we don't even control our newspapers and the media.”
― PLO Lumumba

“His day is done.

Is done.

The news came on the wings of a wind, reluctant to carry its burden.

Nelson Mandela’s day is done.

The news, expected and still unwelcome, reached us in the United States, and suddenly our world became somber.

Our skies were leadened.

His day is done.

We see you, South African people standing speechless at the slamming of that final door through which no traveller returns.

Our spirits reach out to you Bantu, Zulu, Xhosa, Boer.

We think of you and your son of Africa, your father, your one more wonder of the world.

We send our souls to you as you reflect upon your David armed with a mere stone, facing down the mighty Goliath.

Your man of strength, Gideon, emerging triumphant.

Although born into the brutal embrace of Apartheid, scarred by the savage atmosphere of racism, unjustly imprisoned in the bloody maws of South African dungeons.

Would the man survive? Could the man survive?

His answer strengthened men and women around the world.

In the Alamo, in San Antonio, Texas, on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, in Chicago’s Loop, in New Orleans Mardi Gras, in New York City’s Times Square, we watched as the hope of Africa sprang through the prison’s doors.

His stupendous heart intact, his gargantuan will hale and hearty.

He had not been crippled by brutes, nor was his passion for the rights of human beings diminished by twenty-seven years of imprisonment.

Even here in America, we felt the cool, refreshing breeze of freedom.

When Nelson Mandela took the seat of Presidency in his country where formerly he was not even allowed to vote we were enlarged by tears of pride, as we saw Nelson Mandela’s former prison guards invited, courteously, by him to watch from the front rows his inauguration.

We saw him accept the world’s award in Norway with the grace and gratitude of the Solon in Ancient Roman Courts, and the confidence of African Chiefs from ancient royal stools.

No sun outlasts its sunset, but it will rise again and bring the dawn.

Yes, Mandela’s day is done, yet we, his inheritors, will open the gates wider for reconciliation, and we will respond generously to the cries of Blacks and Whites, Asians, Hispanics, the poor who live piteously on the floor of our planet.

He has offered us understanding.

We will not withhold forgiveness even from those who do not ask.

Nelson Mandela’s day is done, we confess it in tearful voices, yet we lift our own to say thank you.

Thank you our Gideon, thank you our David, our great courageous man.

We will not forget you, we will not dishonor you, we will remember and be glad that you lived among us, that you taught us, and that you loved us all.”
― Maya Angelou, His Day Is Done: A Nelson Mandela Tribute

“We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom. We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success. We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world. Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all.”
― Nelson Mandela

“What in Mandela was seen as an almost saintly ability to conciliate could, in a lesser man, be read as weak-kneed populism.”
― Mark Gevisser

“We're not here to make people like us, we're here to change the world for the better.”
― Jeanette Coron

“Your secret behavior will be inherited by your children! If Nelson Mandela was a symbol of reconciliation; then reconciliation is our character. If Kwame Nkrumah was a symbol of unity; then unity is our character. If Patrice Lumumba was a symbol of patriotism; then patriotism is our character. If Robert Mugabe is a symbol of dictatorship; then dictatorship is our character. If Haile Selassie was a symbol of heroism; then heroism is our character. If Samora Machel was a symbol of socialism; then socialism is our character. If Julius Kambarage Nyerere was a symbol of justice; then justice is our character. We are the children of the African patriarchs! They are the fathers of the African nations! We have inherited their secret behaviors.”
― Enock Maregesi

“Putting someone before yourself is possible only if that is done literally.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“In the end, it is not the grand gestures of love that sustain a relationship, but the daily acts of kindness and devotion.”
― Shawpelle Mellowness & Sleepy Hero

“What an amazing gift to help people, not just yourself.”
― Barack Obama

“If people can learn to hate they can learn to love.”
― Barack Obama

“The lack of attention to Moses’s sons here and elsewhere in the Torah—essentially nothing is said about them—needs to be explained. And the explanation is probably this: They did not amount to much. This raises the interesting issue of the difficulty many children of great people face in leading successful and satisfying lives. In a book about Moses, ‘Overcoming Life’s Disappointments’, Rabbi Harold Kushner writes about this: Sometimes the father casts so large a shadow that he makes it hard for his children to find the sunshine they need to grow and flourish. Sometimes, the father’s achievements are so intimidating that the child just gives up any hope of equaling him. But mostly, I suspect, it takes so much of a man’s [the father’s] time and energy to be a great man—great in some ways but not in all—that he has too little time left to be a father. As the South African leader Nelson Mandela’s daughter was quoted as saying to him, ‘You are the father of all our people but you never had time to be a father to me.’
Kushner relates a remarkable story he read in a magazine geared toward clergy, a fictional account of a pastor in a mid-sized church who had a dream one night in which a voice said to him, ‘There are fifty teenagers in your church, and you have the ability to lead forty-nine of them to God and lose out on only one.’ Energized by the dream, the minister throws all his energy into youth work, organizing special classes and trips for the church’s teens. He eventually develops a national reputation in his denomination for his work with young people. ‘And then one night he discovers his sixteen-year-old son has been arrested for dealing drugs. The boy turned bitterly against the church and its teachings, resenting his father for having had time for every sixteen-year-old in town except him, and the father never noticed. His son was the fiftieth teenager, the one who got away.’
Of course, this was not necessarily true of Moses’s children, but the silence of the Torah concerning his children (which is not the case with the children of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Aaron) serves as an important reminder to parents who have achieved success to be sure to make time for their children. They need to try to ensure their children feel they occupy a special place in their parents’ hearts and no matter how pressing the parent’s responsibilities he or she will always find time for them.”
― Dennis Prager, The Rational Bible: Exodus

“There sit our sons", he said, "young, healthy and handsome, the flower of the Xhosa tribe, the pride of our nation. We are here to promise them manhood, but it is an empty promise because we Xhosas and all black South Africans, are a conquered people.”
― Nelson Mandela

“Tabia yako ya siri mwanao atakuwa nayo! Kama Nelson Mandela alikuwa alama ya msamaha, msamaha ni tabia yetu. Kama Kwame Nkrumah alikuwa alama ya umoja, umoja ni tabia yetu. Kama Patrice Lumumba alikuwa alama ya uzalendo, uzalendo ni tabia yetu. Kama Robert Mugabe ni alama ya udikteta, udikteta ni tabia yetu. Kama Haile Selassie alikuwa alama ya ushujaa, ushujaa ni tabia yetu. Kama Samora Machel alikuwa alama ya ujamaa, ujamaa ni tabia yetu. Kama Julius Kambarage Nyerere alikuwa alama ya haki, haki ni tabia yetu. Sisi ni watoto wa wazalendo wa Afrika! Wao ni baba wa mataifa ya Afrika! Tumerithi tabia zao za siri.”
― Enock Maregesi

“Tribute: Nelson Mandela

Tonight, I salute not the sun.
Tonight, I salute not the stars.
Tonight, I laud a hero.
Tonight, I extol a legend.
Tonight, I hail Nelson Mandela.

"He came from the sky," some say.
"He came from the stars," others claim.
"He came from Heaven," many declare.
"He came from God," all affirm.

Madiba, you are my teacher.
Madiba, you are my elder.
You are my father.
You are my hero.

I won't break even if they imprison me.
I won't shake even if they threaten me.
I won't weep even if they kill me.
I won't yield even if they assassinate me.

You are our symbol of courage.
You are our emblem of hope.
You are our model of faith
You are our paragon of love.
You are our champion.
You are our hero.
You are our legend.

We fight for you.
We suffer for you.
We are even prepared to die for you.
You opened our eyes.
You opened our ears.
You opened our minds.
You opened our hearts.

How sharp your mind was.
How strong your heart was.
How pure your soul was.
You were a fox,
you were a lion,
but you were also a dove.

Long live Madiba, Africa remembers you!
Long live Madiba, Africa honors you!
Long live Madiba, Africa celebrates you!
Long live Madiba, the world loves you!!!”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

“I would reason with him by saying, “But Imran, Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in a cell with no end in sight. Narendra Modi was a Chief Minister for 10 years before he became PM. He was voted in despite his radical views because of a good governance track record. Prove yourself in KP then look to the centre”.”
― Reham Khan, Reham Khan

“It is a fact that racial discrimination still exists in the United States and in South America.”
― Barack Obama

“Madiba reminds that democracy is more than just elections.”
― Barack Obama

“If people learn to hate they can learn to love.”
― Barack Obama Mandela

“The vast majority of South Africans, almost all of whom are black, almost always—if not always—attribute to Apartheid, the side effects of capitalism. (And that makes them very unlikely to question capitalism, let alone strive for its abandonment.)”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“It always seems impossible until it’s done- NELSON MANDELA
I graduated from Community College of Philadelphia (2016) and Strayer University- (Summa Cum Laude)2021.”
― Charmaine J. Forde

“Beggars can't be choosers”
― A.k Sultan

“Love is a symphony of the heart, a melody that echoes through the ages, and a song that we all long to sing.”
― Sleepy Hero

“Love is the greatest adventure of all, a journey that takes us to the highest peaks and the deepest valleys, but ultimately leads us to a place of profound happiness and fulfillment.”
― Sleepy Hero, Life is Meaningless and That's Okay: Embracing Your Existential Freedom

“Mandela a avut o ieşire din închisoare grandioasă, elegantă şi plină de demnitate, fiind un lucru extrem de puternic la care a putut asista întreaga lume. Însă, în timp ce-l priveam mergând pe drumul prăfuit, mă întrebam ce părere o fi având el despre ultimii 27 de ani din viața sa şi dacă nu cumva era mânios din nou. Mulți ani mai târziu, am avut şansa de a-l întreba acest lucru. I-am spus: „Ați fost un om extraordinar, căci v-ați invitat temnicerii să ia parte la învestirea dvs. ca preşedinte, ați făcut chiar presiuni la guvern pentru asta. Spuneți-mi adevărul însă, nu cumva erați iar plin de mânie?” El a răspuns: „Ba da, eram mânios şi simțeam şi teamă, doar abia ce fusesem eliberat. Însă, când am simțit acea mânie adunându-se în mine, mi- am dat seama că, dacă îi uram în continuare după ce ieşisem de după gratii, atunci însemna că încă eram prizonierul lor.” Apoi a zâmbit şi a spus: „Fiindcă voiam să fiu liber, am dat drumul la tot.”
― Joyce Meyer, Healing the Soul of a Woman: How to Overcome Your Emotional Wounds