We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.
Nelson MandelaRead
Continuously, we have to fight to defeat the primitive tendency towards the glorification of arms, the adulation of force, born of the illusion that injustice can be perpetuated by the capacity to kill, or that disputes are necessarily best resolved by resort to violent means.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the need to resist the glorification of violence and force in resolving disputes.
Nelson Mandela's quote highlights the importance of understanding that using violence and force is not a legitimate solution to conflicts or injustice. It calls for a continuous effort to reject the idea that power and the capacity to harm others can dictate moral or political outcomes, urging people to seek peaceful and just resolutions instead.
Themes
ViolencePeaceInjusticeConflictResistance
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about promoting peace, one might reference Mandela's quote to emphasize the importance of nonviolent conflict resolution.
More from Nelson Mandela
All quotes →What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.
Nelson MandelaRead
The past is a rich resource on which we can draw in order to make decisions for the future, but it does not dictate our choices. We should look back at the past and select what is good, and leave behind what is bad.
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We signal that good can be achieved amongst human beings who are prepared to trust, prepared to believe in the goodness of people.
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After one has been in prison, it is the small things that one appreciates: being able to take a walk whenever one wants, going into a shop and buying a newspaper, speaking or choosing to remain silent. The simple act of being able to control one's person.
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I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses.
Nelson MandelaRead
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