Top 500 Nelson Mandela Quotes (2025 Update)
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151. “We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.”

— Nelson Mandela

152. “True reconciliation does not consist in merely forgetting the past.”

— Nelson Mandela

153. “It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.”

— Nelson Mandela

154. “Honour belongs to those who never forsake the truth even when things seem dark and grim, who try over and over again, who are never discouraged by insults, humiliation and even defeat.”

— Nelson Mandela

155. “No matter what the past has dealt you, don’t let it destroy your future.”

— Nelson Mandela

156. “Any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.”

— Nelson Mandela

157. “Great anger and violence can never build a nation.”

— Nelson Mandela

158. “When those in power deny you of freedom the only path to freedom is power.”

— Nelson Mandela

159. “Prison itself is a tremendous education in the need for patience and perseverance. It is above all a test of one’s commitment.”

— Nelson Mandela

160. “The UN took a strong stand against apartheid; and over the years, an international consensus was built, which helped to bring an end to this iniquitous system. But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

— Nelson Mandela

161. “I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope.”

— Nelson Mandela

162. “You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself.”

— Nelson Mandela

163. “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front.”

— Nelson Mandela

164. “You encourage people by seeing the good in them.”

— Nelson Mandela

165. “Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.”

— Nelson Mandela

166. “Keep your friends close – and your rivals even closer.”

— Nelson Mandela

167. “Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.”

— Nelson Mandela

168. “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”

— Nelson Mandela

169. “Education has become a very powerful weapon in the struggle to produce a well-developed person.”

— Nelson Mandela

170. “Artists reach areas far beyond the reach of politicians. Art, especially entertainment and music, is understood by everybody, and it lifts the spirits and the morale of those who hear it.”

— Nelson Mandela

171. “Each of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld – a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.”

— Nelson Mandela

172. “I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.”

— Nelson Mandela

173. “Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”

— Nelson Mandela

174. “Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant action can freedom be won. The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.”

— Nelson Mandela

175. “Hating clouds the mind. It gets in the way of strategy. Leaders cannot afford to hate.”

— Nelson Mandela

176. “My dream would be a multicultural society, one that is diverse and where every man, woman and child are treated equally. I dream of a world where all people of all races work together in harmony.”

— Nelson Mandela

177. “The day I am afraid to do, that is the day I am no longer fit to lead.”

— Nelson Mandela

178. “I believe that in the end that it is kindness and accommodation that are all the catalysts for real change.”

— Nelson Mandela

179. “Our society needs to re-establish a culture of caring.”

— Nelson Mandela

180. “As long as women are bound by poverty and as long as they are looked down upon, human rights will lack substance.”

— Nelson Mandela

181. “Give a child love, laughter and peace, not AIDS.”

— Nelson Mandela

182. “A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.”

— Nelson Mandela

183. “The curious beauty of African music is that it uplifts even as it tells a sad tale. You may be poor, you may have only a ramshackle house, you may have lost your job, but that song gives you hope.”

— Nelson Mandela

184. “Freedom is meaningless if people cannot put food in their stomachs, if they can have no shelter, if illiteracy and disease continue to dog them.”

— Nelson Mandela

185. “You see, when there is danger, a good leader takes the front line. But when there is celebration, a good leader stays in the back room. If you want the cooperation of human beings around you, make them feel that they are important. And you do that by being humble.”

— Nelson Mandela

186. “As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

— Nelson Mandela

187. “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

188. “MY greatest regret in life is that I never became the heavyweight boxing champion ofthe world.”

— Nelson Mandela

189. “If you make one gift this year, make it the gift of knowledge.”

— Nelson Mandela

190. “Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”

— Nelson Mandela

191. “The curious beauty about African music is that it uplifts even as it tells a sad story.”

— Nelson Mandela

192. “Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.”

— Nelson Mandela

193. “In the end, reconciliation is a spiritual process, which requires more than just a legal framework. It has to happen in the hearts and minds of people.”

— Nelson Mandela

194. “If our expectations, if our fondest prayers and dreams, are not realized then we should all bear in mind that the greatest glory of living lies not in never falling but in rising every time you fall.”

— Nelson Mandela

195. “Politics can be strengthened by music, but music has a potency that defies politics.”

— Nelson Mandela

196. “It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”

— Nelson Mandela

197. “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.”

— Nelson Mandela

198. “I was not born with a hunger to be free, I was born free.”

— Nelson Mandela

199. “You mustn’t compromise your principles, but you mustn’t humiliate the opposition. No one is more dangerous than one who is humiliated.”

— Nelson Mandela

200. “If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.”

— Nelson Mandela