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For me, nonviolence was not a moral principle but a strategy there is no moral goodness in using an ineffective weapon.

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
Moral
Ineffective
Weapon
Principle
Strategy
Using
Goodness
Weapons
Principles

More quotes by Nelson Mandela

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I have always admired men and women who used their talents to serve the community, and who were highly respected and admired for their efforts and sacrifices, even though they held no office whatsoever in government or society.
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We have introduced a rule of law. That never existed for centuries in this country [South Africa], especially under the apartheid regime, when the law was reduced into disrepute.
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You know, you can only lead them from behind.
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Although I am a gregarious person, I love solitude even more.
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I was called a terrorist yesterday... Today I am admired by the very people who said I was one.
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A new world will be won not by those who stand at a distance with their arms folded, but by those who are in the arena, whose garments are torn by storms and whose bodies are maimed in the course of the contest.
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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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I shall stick to our vow: never, never under any circumstances, to say anything unbecoming of the other...The trouble, of course, is that most successful men are prone to some form of vanity. There comes a stage in their lives when they consider it permissible to be egotistic and to brag to the public at large about their unique achievements.
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An initiative was essentially led by civil society because the policy of the government was that Africans must not be taught to graze in pastures which were reserved for the main white group.
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No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated. Any nation that is progressive is led by people who have had the privilege of studying.
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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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I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I, and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.
Nelson Mandela
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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.
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.
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Only armchair politicians are immune from committing mistakes. Errors are inherent in political action.
Nelson Mandela
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Our society needs to re-establish a culture of caring.
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Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.
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The Commonwealth makes the world safe for diversity
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The United States of America is a threat to world peace. Because what [America] is saying is that if you are afraid of a veto in the Security Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the sovereignty of other countries. That is the message they are sending to the world. That must be condemned in the strongest terms.
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I have retired, but if there's anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.
Nelson Mandela