QuoteProject
Love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
Nelson Mandela
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Love is a fundamental and instinctive emotion that humans often express more freely than hate or negativity.

In this quote, Nelson Mandela emphasizes the intrinsic nature of love within humanity. He suggests that love is a natural inclination of the human heart, implying that it is easier for people to give and receive love compared to harboring feelings of hatred or animosity, which come less naturally and require conscious effort.

Themes

LoveHuman NatureEmotionHeartPositivity

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about community building, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of promoting love over hate.

More from Nelson Mandela

We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.
Nelson MandelaRead
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.
Nelson MandelaRead
We signal that good can be achieved amongst human beings who are prepared to trust, prepared to believe in the goodness of people.
Nelson MandelaRead
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.
Nelson MandelaRead
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

Similar quotes

Kumiko and I felt something for each other from the beginning. It was not one of those strong, impulsive feelings that can hit two people like an electric shock when they first meet, but something quieter and gentler, like two tiny lights traveling in tandem through a vast darkness and drawing imperceptibly closer to each other as they go. As our meetings grew more frequent, I felt not so much that I had met someone new as that I had chanced upon a dear old friend.
Haruki MurakamiRead
So we'll go no more a-roving So late into the night, Though the heart still be as loving, And the moon still be as bright. For the sword outwears its sheath, And the soul outwears the breast, And the heart must pause to breathe, And love itself have rest. Though the night was made for loving, And the day returns too soon, Yet we'll go no more a-roving By the light of the moon.
Lord ByronRead
When your mind is quiet, you enter into the flow of love, and you just flow from one moment to the next as naturally as breathing. Whatever arises, I embrace it with love in the moment. This is my practice of polishing the mirror to reflect love. In this moment there is just awareness and love. If someone asks me how to get into their heart, I give them this practice: I Am Loving Awareness.
Ram DassRead
I always knew that I was called to do something. I didn't know what, but I finally rationalized after I met Martin - and it took a lot of praying to discover this - that this was probably what God had called me to do: to marry him.
Coretta Scott KingRead
But thou, through good and evil, praise and blame,_x000D_ _x000D_ Wilt not thou love me for myself alone?_x000D_ _x000D_ Yes, thou wilt love me with exceeding love,_x000D_ _x000D_ And I will tenfold all that love repay;_x000D_ _x000D_ Still smiling, though the tender may reprove,_x000D_ _x000D_ Still faithful, though the trusted may betray.
Thomas B. MacaulayRead
We burned with love for ourselves, all of us, starters of the fire we suffered- our love was the affliction for which only our love was the cure.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.