We owe our children β the most vulnerable citizens in any society β a life free from violence and fear.
Nelson MandelaRead
Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.
Interpretation
Overcoming poverty is essential for fairness and justice in society, not just an act of kindness.
Nelson Mandela emphasizes that overcoming poverty should not be viewed merely as an act of charity, but rather as a fundamental aspect of justice. This perspective highlights the need for systemic change to address the root causes of poverty and ensure that every individual has the right to an equitable life free from deprivation.
In practice
During a speech about social reform, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of addressing economic inequalities.
We owe our children β the most vulnerable citizens in any society β a life free from violence and fear.
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.
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.
We signal that good can be achieved amongst human beings who are prepared to trust, prepared to believe in the goodness of people.
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.
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.
All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.
I am much happier fighting for justice than I ever was fighting for money.
I am deeply impressed with the gravity and wisdom with which most federal judges approach the responsibility of sentencing. It is a difficult, soul-searching task at best.
I was tremendously fortunate to be alive and a lawyer, working at a university so I had more flexible hours, when the women's movement was coming alive and when it became possible to argue successfully for a view of the equal protection clause that included women.
You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, "you are free to compete with all the others," and still justly believe that you have been completely fair. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result.
Evil never goes unpunished, Monsieur. But the punishment is sometimes secret.
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