Nor did he care about his childhood, for certainly I never heard him speak of it. I once questioned him about his early days and he would not answer. ‘What is the egg to the eagle?’ he asked me…

Bernard Cornwell
About This Quote

Most people remember their childhoods fondly. We often go back and relive the joys of our youth, and we think about how much we've matured and improved since we were 12 years old. But Nelson Mandela never did. He said: "What is the egg to the eagle?" - which is a variation of an African proverb: "You cannot teach an old dog new tricks." He was indifferent to his early days.

To him, he was no longer a child. He was a man who had lived through many years of struggle and had learned all that he could from it.

Source: The Winter King

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