Nelson Mandela

Democracy is based on the majority principle. This is especially true in a country such as ours where the vast majority have been systematically denied their rights. At the same time, democracy also requires that the rights of political and other minorities be safeguarded.

The death sentence is a barbaric act.

A government which uses force to maintain its rule teaches the oppressed to use force to oppose it.

Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.

There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty.

I started to make a study of the art of war and revolution and, whilst abroad, underwent a course in military training. If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them.

I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife.

There is nothing I fear more than waking up without a program that will help me bring a little happiness to those with no resources, those who are poor, illiterate, and ridden with terminal disease.

I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists.

Our single most important challenge is therefore to help establish a social order in which the freedom of the individual will truly mean the freedom of the individual.

I have been influenced in my thinking by both west and east.

I can't pretend that I'm brave and that I can beat the whole world.

By ancestry, I was born to rule.

I have always regarded myself, in the first place, as an African patriot.

Leaders in all spheres who are living with HIV should be encouraged, not coerced, to lead by example and disclose their HIV status.

You know, you can only lead them from behind.

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.

Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.

In countries where innocent people are dying, the leaders are following their blood rather than their brains.

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.

No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.