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People tend to measure themselves by external accomplishments, but jail allows a person to focus on internal ones such as honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, generosity and an absence of variety. You learn to look into yourself.

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
Persons
Measure
Sincerity
Person
Absence
External
Look
Honesty
Jail
Looks
Tend
Accomplishment
People
Humility
Generosity
Ones
Allows
Accomplishments
Focus
Variety
Internals
Learn
Simplicity
Internal

More quotes by Nelson Mandela

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The truth is we are not yet free we have merely achieved the freedom to be free.
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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.
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Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom. Of course the task will not be easy. But not to do this would be a crime against humanity, against which I ask all humanity now to rise up.
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My time in prison only deepened my resolve against apartheid. Even while I was in prison, I fought against it, teaching my cellmates about white supremacy and how to fight against it.
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There is nothing like a fixed, steady aim, with an honorable purpose. It dignifies your nature, and insures your success.
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Racism is a blight on the human conscience
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To go to prison because of your convictions and be prepared to suffer for what you believe in, is something worthwhile. It is an achievement for a man to do his duty on earth irrespective of the consequences.
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Unlike some politicians, I can admit to a mistake.
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We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: That South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people.
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Both Bush as well, as Tony Blair, are undermining an idea which was sponsored by their predecessors. They do not care. Is it because the secretary-general of the United Nations [Ghanaian Kofi Annan] is now a black man? They never did that when secretary-generals were white.
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AIDS today in Africa is claiming more lives than the sum total of all wars, famines and floods and the ravages of such deadly diseases as malaria ... We must act now for the sake of the world.
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Information is a basic human right and the fundamental foundation for the formation of democratic institutions.
Nelson Mandela
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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.
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Of course we desire education and we think it is a good thing, but you don't have to have education in order to know that you want certain fundamental rights, you have got aspirations, you have got acclaims. It has nothing to do with education whatsoever.
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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.
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The United States has made serious mistakes in the conduct of its foreign affairs, which have had unfortunate repercussions long after the decisions were taken.
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I will use the rest of my life to help the poor overcome the problems confronting them - poverty is the greatest challenge facing humanity. That is why I build schools I want to free people from poverty and illiteracy.
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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.
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The death sentence is a barbaric act . . . It is a reflection of the animal instinct still in human beings.
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We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.
Nelson Mandela