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I could not imagine that the future I was walking toward could compare in any way to the past that I was leaving behind.

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
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More quotes by Nelson Mandela

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I made a mistake by being ejected from the presidency. Next time, I will choose a Cabinet which will allow me to be life President.
Nelson Mandela
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Regarding African education in this country, there was a time when the government took no interest whatsoever in African education. It was the churches, that part of civil society, which bought land, built schools, and employed and paid teachers. People like myself, right from grade eight up to university, I was in missionary schools.
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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.
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Only free men can negotiate prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.
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If you want to change the world, help the women.
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It is also the fate of leadership to be misunderstood. For historians, academics, writers and journalists to reflect great lives according to their own subjective canon.
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My family is very large. 42 million.
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There's no such thing as part freedom.
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If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don't care for human beings.... What I am condemning is that one power, with a president [George W. Bush] who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.
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Other people have qualities that may be better than your own. Let them express them.
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We have introduced equity into our life, including a uniform educational system. We have also introduced a Bill of Rights, which is not just a piece of paper, but a living document because we have created structures that are totally independent of the government and that can overrule the government, even the president.
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When I walked out of the gate I knew that if I continued to hate these people I was still in prison.
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There can be no greater gift than that of giving one’s time and energy to help others without expecting anything in return.
Nelson Mandela
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Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.
Nelson Mandela
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Today we are a nation at peace with itself, united in our diversity, not only proclaiming but living out the contention that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. We take our place amongst the nations of the world, confident and proud in being an African country.
Nelson Mandela
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Those South Africans who berate me for being loyal to our friends, literally they can go and throw themselves into a pool. I am not going to betray the trust of those who helped us.
Nelson Mandela
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As long as many of our people still live in utter poverty, as long as children still live under plastic covers, as long as many of our people are still without jobs, no South African should rest and wallow in the joy of freedom.
Nelson Mandela
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I found solitary confinement the most forbidding aspect of prison life. There is no end and no beginning there is only one's mind, which can begin to play tricks. Was that a dream or did it really happen? One begins to question everything.
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The names of Dingane and Bambata, Hintsa and Makana, Squngthi and Dalasile, Moshoeshoe and Sekhukhuni, were praised as the glory of the entire African nation. I hoped then that life might offer me the opportunity to serve my people and make my own humble contribution to their freedom struggle.
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Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.
Nelson Mandela