99 quotes
I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
The victory of democracy in South Africa is the common achievement of all humanity.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.
Inaugural celebration address (1994)
I detest racialism because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
Any man that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians; without the resolution of conflicts in East Timor, the Sudan and other parts of the world.
The International Day Of Solidarity With The Palestinian People (1997)
There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
We speak here of the challenge of the dichotomies of war and peace, violence and non-violence, racism and human dignity, oppression and repression and liberty and human rights, poverty and freedom from want.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1993)
Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can sit in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.
I believe that nobody can find God alone, I have to work with people. I have to take them with me. Alone I can't come to Him.
The Sacred Warrior (2000)
In my country we go to prison first and then become President.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
As a movement we recognise the legitimacy of Palestinian nationalism just as we recognise the legitimacy of Zionism as a Jewish nationalism.
It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
The cause of Communism is the greatest cause in the history of mankind becasuse it seeks to remove from society all forms of oppression and exploitation, to liberate mankind and to ensure peace and prosperity to all.
[T]o be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
Prison itself is a tremendous education in the need for patience and perseverance. It is above all a test of one's commitment.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
Perhaps it was history that ordained that it be here, at the Cape of Good Hope that we should lay the foundation stone of our new nation.
Inaugural speech (1994)
No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
The authorities liked to say that we received a balanced diet; it was indeed balanced — between the unpalatable and the inedible.
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)