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Before I went to jail, I was active in politics as a member of South Africa's leading organization - and I was generally busy from 7 A.M. until midnight. I never had time to sit and think.

Nelson Mandela

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Nelson Mandela
Age: 95 †
Born: 1918
Born: July 18
Died: 2013
Died: December 5
Autobiographer
Former President Of South Africa
Lawyer
Political Activist
Political Prisoner
Politician
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
Mandela
Prisoner 46664
Madiba
Members
Jail
Went
Leading
Politics
Africa
Never
Generally
Time
Active
Think
Busy
Thinking
Organization
Midnight
South
Member

More quotes by Nelson Mandela

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It is necessary to heal the wounds of the past If you are going to build your country and to have unity. I am working with people who fought me very bitterly before the elections. It was my responsibility as the man who is leading the majority party, my responsibility to heal the wounds of the past and to work with people who were my opponents.
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You know, you can only lead them from behind.
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We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference.
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I am confident that nobody... will accuse me of selfishness if I ask to spend time, while I am still in good health, with my family, my friends and also with myself.
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Let us remind ourselves that it is ordinary people - men and women, boys and girls - that make the world a special place
Nelson Mandela
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The most difficult matter is not so much to change the world as yourself.
Nelson Mandela
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The curious beauty about African music is that it uplifts even as it tells a sad story.
Nelson Mandela
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What he means by this is that instead of saying you'll try, you need to do. And as we let our 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.
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A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.
Nelson Mandela
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I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.
Nelson Mandela
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We slaughter one another in our words and attitudes. We slaughter one another in the stereotypes and mistrust that linger in our heads, and the words of hate we spew from our lips.
Nelson Mandela
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Our freedom is also incomplete, dear compatriots, as long as we are denied our security by criminals who prey on our communities, who rob our businesses and undermine our economy, who ply their destructive trade in drugs in our schools, and who do violence against our women and children.
Nelson Mandela
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We can build a society grounded on friendship and our common humanity - a society founded on tolerance. That is the only road open to us.
Nelson Mandela
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The truth is we are not yet free we have merely achieved the freedom to be free.
Nelson Mandela
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To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.
Nelson Mandela
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No child in Africa, and in fact anywhere in the world, should be denied education.
Nelson Mandela
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It always seems impossible until its done.
Nelson Mandela
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The time will come when our nation will honour the memory of all the sons, the daughters, the mothers, the fathers, the youth and the children who, by their thoughts and deeds, gave us the right to assert with pride that we are South Africans, that we are Africans, and that we are citizens of the world.
Nelson Mandela
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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 Mandela
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Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation
Nelson Mandela