Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.
A Xhosa, Mandela was born to the Thembu royal family in Mvezo, Union of South Africa. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944. After the National Party’s white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged whites, he and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. Mandela was appointed President of the ANC’s Transvaal branch, rising to prominence for his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People. He was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the banned South African Communist Party (SACP). Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 and led a sabotage campaign against the government. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the state following the Rivonia Trial.
Mandela served 27 years in prison, split between Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison, and Victor Verster Prison. Amid growing domestic and international pressure, and with fears of a racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory and became president. Leading a broad coalition government which promulgated a new constitution, Mandela emphasised reconciliation between the country’s racial groups and created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. Economically, Mandela’s administration retained its predecessor’s liberal framework despite his own socialist beliefs, also introducing measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services. Internationally, he acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. He declined a second presidential term, and in 1999 was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela became an elder statesman and focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Although critics on the right denounced him as a communist terrorist and those on the far-left deemed him too eager to negotiate and reconcile with apartheid’s supporters, he gained international acclaim for his activism. Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours—including the Nobel Peace Prize—and became the subject of a cult of personality. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba, and described as the “Father of the Nation”. Here we have complied a list of Nelson Mandela’s Inspirational Quotes.
Nelson Mandela Inspirational Quotes
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
– Nelson Mandela
Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.
– Nelson Mandela
One of the most difficult things is not to change society — but to change yourself.
– Nelson Mandela
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
– Nelson Mandela
Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.
– Nelson Mandela
Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.
– Nelson Mandela
A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.
– Nelson Mandela
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
– Nelson Mandela
To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
– Nelson Mandela
Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.
– Nelson Mandela
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
– Nelson Mandela
Inspirational Quotes by Nelson Mandela
Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.
– Nelson Mandela
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
– Nelson Mandela
There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
It always seems impossible until it’s done.
– Nelson Mandela
We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.
– Nelson Mandela
Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.
– Nelson Mandela
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
– Nelson Mandela
Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.
– Nelson Mandela
When people are determined they can overcome anything.
– Nelson Mandela
What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.
– Nelson Mandela
I never lose. I either win or learn.
– Nelson Mandela
Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?
– Nelson Mandela
Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.
– Nelson Mandela
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
It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.
– Nelson Mandela
Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.
– Nelson Mandela
Fools multiply when wise men are silent.
– Nelson Mandela
You can start changing our world for the better daily, no matter how small the action.
– Nelson Mandela
As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
– Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela Motivational Quotes
May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.
– Nelson Mandela
The greatest glory in living is not in falling, but in rising every time we fall.
– Nelson Mandela
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
– Nelson Mandela
While poverty persists, there is no true freedom
– Nelson Mandela
After climbing a great hill. One only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
– Nelson Mandela
I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.
– Nelson Mandela
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
– Nelson Mandela
Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.
– Nelson Mandela
Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely day dreaming, but vision with action can change the world.
– Nelson Mandela
Sometimes, it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.
– Nelson Mandela
Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.
– Nelson Mandela
When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.
– Nelson Mandela
If you want the cooperation of humans around you, you must make them feel they are important, and you do that by being genuine and humble.
– Nelson Mandela
Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.
– Nelson Mandela
People respond in accordance to how you treat them.
– Nelson Mandela