Nelson Mandela

It is time for the next generations to continue our struggle against social injustice and for the rights of humanity. It is in your hands.

Only armchair politicians are immune from committing mistakes. Errors are inherent in political action.

Out of the experience of extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud.

History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children.

We understand and promote the notion that while children need to be guided they also have an entrenched right to be whatever they want to be and that they can achieve this only if they are given the space to dream and live out their dreams.

It always gives me great pleasure to be surrounded by the beautiful children of our land. Whenever I am with the energetic young people ... I feel like a recharged battery, confident that our country can look forward to great things.

Few things make the life of a parent more rewarding and sweet as successful children.

Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty.

It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

If the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, then you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid government.

Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth, those who care for and protect our people.

Force is the only language the imperialists can hear, and no country became free without some sort of violence.

[Gandhi] said, "I want to find God, and because I want to find God, I have to find God along with other people. I don't believe I can find God alone. If I did, I would be running to the Himalayas to find God in some cave there. But since I believe that nobody can find God alone, I have to work with people. I have to take them with me. Alone I can't come to Him."

A new society cannot be created by reproducing the repugnant past, however refined or enticingly repackaged.

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.

We recall our terrible past so that we can deal with it, to forgive where forgiveness is necessary, without forgetting; to ensure that never again will such inhumanity tear us apart; and to move ourselves to eradicate a legacy that lurks dangerously as a threat to our democracy.

We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference.

We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know:_x000D_ That South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people.

Freedom would be meaningless without security in the home and in the streets.

People respond in accordance to how you relate to them. If you approach them on the basis of violence, that's how they'll react. But if you say, 'We want peace, we want stability,' we can then do a lot of things that will contribute towards the progress of our society.

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... 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 easy reach of every soul - are the foundation of one's spiritual life.