Top 500 Nelson Mandela Quotes (2025 Update)
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201. “No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.”

— Nelson Mandela

202. “Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair.”

— Nelson Mandela

203. “Take it upon yourself where you live to make people around you joyful and full of hope.”

— Nelson Mandela

204. “Our economic approach to food and its distribution reflects our basic moral values.”

— Nelson Mandela

205. “The history of struggle is rich with stories of heroes and heroines – some of them leaders, some of them followers, all of them deserve to be remembered.”

— Nelson Mandela

206. “I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.”

— Nelson Mandela

207. “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

208. “The power of imagination created the illusion that my vision went much farther than the naked eye could actually see.”

— Nelson Mandela

209. “A government which uses force to maintain its rule teaches the oppressed to use force to oppose it.”

— Nelson Mandela

210. “Ethiopia always has a special place in my imagination and the prospect of visiting Ethiopia attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England, and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an African.”

— Nelson Mandela

211. “To be the father of a nation is a great honor, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy.”

— Nelson Mandela

212. “No problem is so deep that it cannot be overcome, given the will of all parties, through discussion and negotiation rather than force and violence.”

— Nelson Mandela

213. “I was neglected by my family because I had disappointed them – I’d run away from being forced into an arranged marriage, which was a big blow to them.”

— Nelson Mandela

214. “Racism is a blight on the human conscience. The idea that any people can be inferior to another, to the point where those who consider themselves superior define and treat the rest as subhuman, denies the humanity even of those who elevate themselves to the status of gods.”

— Nelson Mandela

215. “It is a grave error for any leader to be oversensitive in the face of criticism.”

— Nelson Mandela

216. “Only armchair politicians are immune from committing mistakes. Errors are inherent in political action.”

— Nelson Mandela

217. “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination...”

— Nelson Mandela

218. “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

219. “Tread softly, Brathe peacefully, Laugh hysterically.”

— Nelson Mandela

220. “There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere.”

— Nelson Mandela

221. “One effect of sustained conflict is to narrow our vision of what is possible. Time and time again, conflicts are resolved through shifts that were unimaginable at the start.”

— Nelson Mandela

222. “We must nurture tolerance, collective wisdom, and democracy.”

— Nelson Mandela

223. “The most difficult matter is not so much to change the world as yourself.”

— Nelson Mandela

224. “Let your greatness bloom.”

— Nelson Mandela

225. “Each of us, as citizens, has a role to play in creating a better world for our children.”

— Nelson Mandela

226. “There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal trimuph if you have the iron will and the neccessary skill.”

— Nelson Mandela

227. “Let us join hands and build a truly South African nation.”

— Nelson Mandela

228. “A garden was one of the few thing in prison that one could control. To plant a seed, watch it grow, to tend it then harvest it, offered a simple but enduring satisfaction. The sense of being the custodian of this small patch of earth offered a taste of freedom.”

— Nelson Mandela

229. “I approach every problem with optimism.”

— Nelson Mandela

230. “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.”

— Nelson Mandela

231. “If you are negotiating you must do so in a spirit of reconciliation, not from the point of view of issuing ultimatums.”

— Nelson Mandela

232. “The truth is we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free.”

— Nelson Mandela

233. “No form of violence can ever be excused in a society that wishes to call itself decent.”

— Nelson Mandela

234. “Where people of goodwill get together and transcend their differences for the common good, peaceful and just solutions can be found even for those problems which seem most intractable.”

— Nelson Mandela

235. “I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come.”

— Nelson Mandela

236. “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.”

— Nelson Mandela

237. “Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.”

— Nelson Mandela

238. “While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.”

— Nelson Mandela

239. “Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty.”

— Nelson Mandela

240. “I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all.”

— Nelson Mandela

241. “The Commonwealth makes the world safe for diversity.”

— Nelson Mandela

242. “Our march to freedom is irreversible. We must not allow fear to stand in our way.”

— Nelson Mandela

243. “There is nothing more important in life than giving. Tolerance is forged when people look beyond their own desires.”

— Nelson Mandela

244. “I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.”

— Nelson Mandela

245. “Who could doubt that sport is a crucial window for the propagation of fair play and justice? After all, fair play is a value that is essential to sport.”

— Nelson Mandela

246. “Those who can’t imagine change reveal the deficits of their imaginations, not the difficulty of change.”

— Nelson Mandela

247. “Freedom would be meaningless without security in the home and in the streets.”

— Nelson Mandela

248. “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

249. “There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile to continue talking about peace and non-violence against a government whose only reply is savage attacks on an unarmed and defenceless people.”

— Nelson Mandela

250. “It is my deepest conviction that the children should be seen and heard as our most treasured assets.”

— Nelson Mandela