Quotes From "Long Walk To Freedom" By Nelson Mandela

A Nation should not be judged by how it treats...
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A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it's lowest ones Nelson Mandela
It reaffirmed my long-held belief that education was the enemy...
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It reaffirmed my long-held belief that education was the enemy of prejudice. These were men and women of science, and science had no room for racism. Nelson Mandela
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously...
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And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Nelson Mandela
When the women begin to take an active part in...
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When the women begin to take an active part in the struggle, no power on earth can stop us from achieving freedom in our lifetime. Nelson Mandela
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For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances freedom to others. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended. . Nelson Mandela
Of course you cannot know a man completely, his character,...
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Of course you cannot know a man completely, his character, his principles, sense of judgement, not till he’s shown his colors, run the people, making laws. Experience, there’s the test. Nelson Mandela
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I cannot pinpoint a moment when I became politicized, when I knew that I would spend my life in the liberation struggle. To be an African in South Africa means that one is politicized from the moment of one's birth, whether one acknowledges it or not.. His life is circumscribed by racist laws and regulations that cripple his growth, dim his potential, and stunt his life.. I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments, produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, From henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise. Nelson Mandela
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A leader.. .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. Nelson Mandela
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One day, I was on the front lawn of the property and aimed the gun at a sparrow perched high in a tree. Hazel Goldreich, Arthur's wife, was watching me and jokingly remarked that I would never hit the target. But she had hardly finished the sentence when the sparrow fell to the ground. I turned to her and was about to boast, when the Goldreichs' son Paul, then about five years old, turned to me with tears in his eyes and said, "David, why did you kill that bird? Its mother will be sad." My mood immediately shifted from one of pride to shame; I felt that this small boy had far more humanity than I did. It was an odd sensation for a man who was the leader of a nascent guerrilla army. Nelson Mandela
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I loved it in the unconditional way that children love their first home. Nelson Mandela
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If wealth is a magnet, poverty is a kind of repellent. Nelson Mandela
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Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs. Nelson Mandela
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Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and apsirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry or savour their songs. I again realized that we were not different people with separate languages; we were one people, with different tongues. Nelson Mandela
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What I took out of them was that character was measured by facing up to difficult situations and that a hero was a man who would not break even under the most trying circumstances. Nelson Mandela
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When you are young and strong...you can stay alive on your hatred"....but realized later "They can take everything from me except my mind and heart" Nelson Mandela from Long Walk to Freedom Nelson Mandela
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Crime must be brought under control... Freedom without civility, freedom without the ability to live in peace, was not true freedom at all. Nelson Mandela
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This document [the Reconstruction and Development Programme] was translated into a simpler manifesto called 'A Better Life for All', which in turn became the ANC's campaign slogan. Nelson Mandela
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It is not my ambition to marry a white woman or swim in a white pool. It is political equality that we want. Nelson Mandela
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People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite... Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished. Nelson Mandela
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Prison is designed to break one's spirit and destroy one's resolve. To do this, the authorities attempt to exploit every weakness, demolish every initiative, negate all signs of individuality--all with the idea of stamping out that spark that makes each of us human and each of us who we are. Nelson Mandela