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I am fundamentally an optimist.

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
Fundamentally
Optimist

More quotes by Nelson Mandela

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I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A person does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards.
Nelson Mandela
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Religion is one of the most important forces in the world. Whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew, or a Hindu, religion is a great force, and it can help one have command of one's own morality, one's own behavior, and one's own attitude.
Nelson Mandela
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Sport has the power to inspire and unite people. In Africa, soccer enjoys great popularity and has a particular place in the hearts of people.
Nelson Mandela
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The Church was as concerned with this world as the next: I saw that virtually all of the achievements of Africans seemed to have come about through the missionary work of the Church.
Nelson Mandela
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Courage is not the absence of fear — it s inspiring others to move beyond it.
Nelson Mandela
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Strong convictions are the secret of surviving deprivation your spirit can be full even when your stomach is empty.
Nelson Mandela
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The brave man is not the one who has no fears, he is the one who triumphs over his fears.
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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I pay tribute to the endless heroism of youth.
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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I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
Nelson Mandela
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To truly lead one's people, one must also truly know them.
Nelson Mandela
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If you don't allow people to contribute, to offer their point of view, or to criticize what has been put before them, then they can never like you. And you can never build that instrument of collective leadership.
Nelson Mandela
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Without education, your children can never really meet the challenges they will face. So it's very important to give children education and explain that they should play a role for their country.
Nelson Mandela
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The power of imagination created the illusion that my vision went much farther than the naked eye could actually see.
Nelson Mandela
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As the years progress one increasingly realises the importance of friendship and human solidarity. And if a 90-year-old may offer some unsolicited advice on this occasion, it would be that you, irrespective of your age, should place human solidarity, the concern for the other, at the centre of the values by which you live.
Nelson Mandela
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I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.
Nelson Mandela
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Justice and I became friends, though we were opposites in many ways - he was extroverted, I was introverted he was lighthearted, I was serious.
Nelson Mandela
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It is important to not be hostile to what a greater part of society has embraced, whether as Christians, Hindus or Muslims. It is important to respect that because whether you believe or not in the existence of a superior being, humanity does believe in that.
Nelson Mandela
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I would like to be remembered not as anyone unique or special, but as part of a great team in this country that has struggled for many years, for decades and even centuries. The greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall.
Nelson Mandela