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I Dust [your Photo] Carefully Every Morning, For To Do So Gives Me The Pleasant Feeling That I'm Caressing You As In The Old Days. I Even Touch Your Nose With Mine To Recapture The Electric Current That Used To Flush Through My Blood Whenever I Did So.

-Nelson Mandela

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I Dust [your Photo]

Nelson Mandela

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I Dust [your Photo] Carefully Every Morning, For To Do So Gives Me The Pleasant Feeling That I'm Caressing You As In The Old Days. I Even Touch Your Nose With Mine To Recapture The Electric Current That Used To Flush Through My Blood Whenever I Did So.

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I Am Sure That If Somebody Is Giving A Sum To Charity, He Or She Should Be Encouraged To Do So By The Authorities Because The Spirit In Which We Encourage People To Give Has Permeated Our Society.

How Can I Be Expected To Believe That This Same Racial Discrimination Which Has Been The Cause Of So Much Injustice And Suffering Right Through The Years, Should Now Operate Here To Give Me A Fair And Open Trial?....consider Myself Neither Morally Nor Legally Obliged To Obey Laws Made By A Parliament In Which I Am Not Represented. That The Will Of The People Is The Basis Of The Authority Of Government, Is A Principle Universally Acknowledged As Sacred Throughout The Civilized World.

I Have Fought Against White Domination, And I Have Fought Against Black Domination.

Man's Goodness Is A Flame That Can Be Hidden But Never Extinguished

In Prison, Illusions Can Offer Comfort.

In Its Proper Meaning Equality Before The Law Means The Right To Participate In The Making Of The Laws By Which One Is Governed, A Constitution Which Guarantees Democratic Rights To All Sections Of The Population, The Right To Approach The Court For Protection Or Relief In The Case Of The Violation Of Rights Guaranteed In The Constitution, And The Right To Take Part In The Administration Of Justice As Judges, Magistrates, Attorneys-general, Law Advisers And Similar Positions.

Our Children Are The Rock On Which Our Future Will Be Built, Our Greatest Asset As A Nation. They Will Be The Leaders Of Our Country, The Creators Of Our National Wealth, Those Who Care For And Protect Our People.

I Like Friends Who Have Independent Minds Because They Tend To Make You See Problems From All Angles.

Whatever Position I Occupied, It Was The Result Of Colleagues - Of My Comrades In The Movement - Who Had Decided In Their Wisdom To Use Me For The Purpose Of Focusing The Attention Of The Country And The International Community On Me.

When You Are Behind Bars With No Hope Of Release, You Need To Find Strength Wherever You Can. Personally, I Found Strength In Michael Jackson.

Finding Strength

To The Youth Of Today, I Also Have A Wish To Make: Be The Scriptwriters Of Your Destiny And Feature Yourselves As Stars That Showed The Way Towards A Brighter Future.

I've Found That South Africa Has Produced Good Leaders. These Are People Who Realize That When There Is Danger, They Should Be In The Forefront And When There Is Victory To Be Celebrated, They Should Be In The Background, Allowing Their Colleagues And The Ordinary Civilians - The Man In The Street - To Rejoice And To Celebrate That Victory.

You Know, You Can Only Lead Them From Behind.

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.

I Told My Cellmates About The Oppression Of The Whites And Apartheid. I Helped Organize Hunger Strikes And The Like In My Prison.

I Was Called A Terrorist Yesterday, But When I Came Out Of Jail, Many People Embraced Me, Including My Enemies, And That Is What I Normally Tell Other People Who Say Those Who Are Struggling For Liberation In Their Country Are Terrorists.

That Day, Miss Mdingane Told Me That My New Name Was Nelson. Why She Bestowed This Particular Name Upon Me I Have No Idea. Perhaps It Had Something To Do With The Great British Sea Captain Lord Nelson, But That Would Be Only A Guess.

Even Behind Prison Walls I Can See The Heavy Clouds And The Blue Sky Over The Horizon

Running Taught Me Valuable Lessons. In Cross-country Competition, Training Counted More Than Intrinsic Ability, And I Could Compensate For A Lack Of Natural Aptitude With Diligence And Discipline. I Applied This In Everything I Did.

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.

It Is Not Where You Start But How High You Aim That Matters For Success.

We Can Neither Heal Nor Build If, On The One Hand The Rich In Our Society See The Poor As Hordes Of Irritants Or If On The Other Hand The Poor Sit Back, Expecting Charity. All Of Us Must Take Responsibility For The Upliftment Of Our Conditions, Prepared To Give Our Best To The Benefit Of All

We Know What Needs To Be Done - All That Is Missing Is The Will To Do It.

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.

We Don't Have To Be Victims Of Our Past, That We Can Let Go Of Our Bitterness, And That All Of Us Can Achieve Greatness.

I Learned That To Humiliate Another Person Is To Make Him Suffer An Unnecessarily Cruel Fate. Even As A Boy, I Defeated My Opponents Without Dishonoring Them.

Times Change, We Need To Change As Well.

A Real Leader Uses Every Issue, No Matter How Serious And Sensitive, To Ensure That At The End Of The Debate We Should Emerge Stronger And More United Than Ever Before.

Our Efforts To Counter Hatred, Intolerance, And Indifference Must Continue Simultaneously At Individual And Structural Levels. We Must Try To Influence For Good The Minds And Hearts Of Individual People Through Dialogue And Confidence Building. These Efforts Must Be Reinforced By Our Efforts To Create Just Structures In Society To Support The Ongoing Work Of Negotiations In The Human Community. Only Then Will We Have A Chance To Negate The Terrible Consequences Of The Tremendous Conflicts Facing Humankind Today.

Let Freedom Reign. The Sun Never Set On So Glorious A Human Achievement.

We Understand And Promote The Notion That While Children Need To Be Guided They Also Have An Entrenched Right To Be Whatever They Want To Be And That They Can Achieve This Only If They Are Given The Space To Dream And Live Out Their Dreams.

The People Of Africa Have Learned The Lessons Of Patience And Endurance In Their Long Struggle For Freedom. In A Cynical World We Have Become An Inspiration To Many. We Signal That Good Can Be Achieved Amongst Human Beings Who Are Prepared To Trust, Prepared To Belief In The Goodness Of People.

Justice And I Became Friends, Though We Were Opposites In Many Ways - He Was Extroverted, I Was Introverted; He Was Lighthearted, I Was Serious.

Tread Softly, Brathe Peacefully, Laugh Hysterically.

The Calm And Tolerant Atmosphere That Prevailed During The Elections Depicts The Type Of South Africa We Can Build. It Set The Tone For The Future. We Might Have Our Differences, But We Are One People With A Common Destiny In Our Rich Variety Of Culture, Race And Tradition.

It Is Not The Kings And Generals That Make History, But The Masses Of The People.

The Challenge For Each One Of You Is To Take Up These Ideals Of Tolerance And Respect For Others And Put Them To Practical Use In Your Schools, Your Communities And Throughout Your Lives.

The Collapse Of Good Conscience And The Absence Of Accountability And Public Scrutiny Have Led To Crimes Against Humanity And Violations Of International Law.

There Is Nobody More Dangerous Than One Who Has Been Humiliated, Even When You Humiliate Him Rightly.

I Made A Mistake By Being Ejected From The Presidency. Next Time, I Will Choose A Cabinet Which Will Allow Me To Be Life President.

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.

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.

I Could Not Imagine That The Future I Was Walking Toward Could Compare In Any Way To The Past That I Was Leaving Behind.

It Is In The Character Of Growth That We Should Learn From Both Pleasant And Unpleasant Experiences.

All That (mr. Bush) Wants Is Iraqi Oil.

We Know It Well That None Of Us Acting Alone Can Achieve Success.

From Its Earliest Days, The Cuban Revolution Has Also Been A Source Of Inspiration To All Freedom-loving People. We Admire The Sacrifices Of The Cuban People In Maintaining Their Independence And Sovereignty In The Face Of The Vicious Imperialist-orquestrated Campaign To Destroy The Impressive Gain Made In The Cuban Revolution. Long Live The Cuban Revolution. Long Live Comrade Fidel Castro.

Remember To Celebrate Milestones As You Prepare For The Road Ahead.

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.

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...

Let Us Remind Ourselves That It Is Ordinary People - Men And Women, Boys And Girls - That Make The World A Special Place

History And The Generations To Come Will Judge Our Leaders By The Decisions They Make In The Coming Weeks.

The United States Of America Is A Threat To World Peace. Because What [america] Is Saying Is That If You Are Afraid Of A Veto In The Security Council, You Can Go Outside And Take Action And Violate The Sovereignty Of Other Countries. That Is The Message They Are Sending To The World. That Must Be Condemned In The Strongest Terms.

The Brave Man Is Not The One Who Has No Fears, He Is The One Who Triumphs Over His Fears.

Forget The Past.

The First Election In Which All South Africans Took Part Was In April, 1994. There Were Long Queues [lines] Of Employers And Employees, Black And White. In The Sense Of Africans, Coloreds And Indians - When I Talk About Blacks, I Mean Those Three. Blacks And Whites Mingled To Vote Without Any Hitches. Many People Would Have Expected A Great Deal Of Tension, Clashes And Violence, But It Did Not Occur.

Black And White

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.

We Signal That Good Can Be Achieved Amongst Human Beings Who Are Prepared To Trust, Prepared To Believe In The Goodness Of People.

I Am Convinced That Floods Of Personal Disaster Can Never Drown A Determined Revolutionary Nor Can The Cumulus Of Misery That Accompanies Tragedy Suffocate Him.

A Movement Without Vision Would Be A Movement Without Moral Foundation.

Apart From Life, A Strong Constitusion And An Abiding Connection To The Thembu Royal House, The Only Thing My Father Bestowed Upon Me At Birth Was A Name, Rolihlahla

Although Verwoerd Thought Africans Were Lower Than Animals, His Death Did Not Yield Us Any Pleasure. Political Assassination Is Not Something I Or The Anc Ever Supported. It Is A Primitive Way Of Contending With An Opponent

It Is Better To Lead From Behind And To Put Others In Front, Especially When You Celebrate Victory When Nice Things Occur. You Take The Front Line When There Is Danger. Then People Will Appreciate Your Leadership.

I Had No Epiphany, No Singular Revelation, No Moment Of Truth, But A Steady Accumulation Of A Thousand Slights, A Thousand Indignities And A Thousand Unremembered Moments Produced In Me An Anger, A Rebelliousness, A Desire To Fight The System That Imprisoned My People. There Was No Particular Day On Which I Said, Henceforth I Will Devote Myself To The Liberation Of My People; Instead, I Simply Found Myself Doing So, And Could Not Do Otherwise.

Music Is A Great Blessing. It Has The Power To Elevate And Liberate Us. It Sets People Free To Dream. It Can Unite Us To Sing With One Voice. Such Is The Value Of Music.

I Cherish My Own Freedom Dearly, But I Care Even More For Your Freedom. Too Many Have Died Since I Went To Prison. Too Many Have Suffered For The Love Of Freedom. I Owe It To Their Widows, To Their Orphans, To Their Mothers And Their Fathers, Who Have Grieved And Wept For Them ..... Not Only Have I Suffered During These Long Lonely Wasted Years. I Am No Less Life-loving Than You Are. But I Cannot Sell The Birthright Of The People To Be Free ....... Only Free Men Can Negotiate. Prisoners Cannot Enter Into Contracts. Your Freedom And Mine Cannot Be Separated.

The Good News Borne By Our Risen Messiah Who Chose Not One Race, Who Chose Not One Country, Who Chose Not One Language, Who Chose Not One Tribe, Who Chose All Of Humankind!

Quitting Is Leading Too.

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.

Great Anger And Violence Can Never Build A Nation.

Prison Life, Fortunately, I Spent A Lot Of Years, About 18 Years With Other Prisoners, And, As I Say, They Enriched Your Soul.

[gandhi] Said, "i Want To Find God, And Because I Want To Find God, I Have To Find God Along With Other People. I Don't Believe I Can Find God Alone. If I Did, I Would Be Running To The Himalayas To Find God In Some Cave There. But Since I Believe That Nobody Can Find God Alone, I Have To Work With People. I Have To Take Them With Me. Alone I Can't Come To Him."

I Approach Every Problem With Optimism.

If There Is A Country That Has Committed Unspeakable Atrocities In The World, It Is The United States Of America.

Atrocities Committed

To Be The Father Of A Nation Is A Great Honor, But To Be The Father Of A Family Is A Greater Joy.

When I Walked Out Of The Gate I Knew That If I Continued To Hate These People I Was Still In Prison.

My Greatest Regret In Life Is That I Never Became The Heavyweight Boxing Champion Ofthe World.

If You Are Negotiating You Must Do So In A Spirit Of Reconciliation, Not From The Point Of View Of Issuing Ultimatums.

There Is Nothing To Popularize A Person. Only Humility, Which Is The Ability To Remain In The Background And To Put Others In The Front Light.

The More Informed You Are, The Less Arrogant And Aggressive You Are.

A Freedom Fighter Learns The Hard Way That It Is The Oppressor Who Defines The Nature Of The Struggle,and The Oppressed Is Often Left No Recourse But To Use Methods That Mirror Those Of The Oppressor.at A Point, One Can Only Fight Fire With Fire

It Is My Greatest Wish That The Children’s Fund Should Continue To Be A Beacon Of Hope And Light.

The Time Is Always Right To Do Right

People Respond In Accordance To How You Relate To Them. If You Approach Them On The Basis Of Violence, That's How They'll React. But If You Say, 'we Want Peace, We Want Stability,' We Can Then Do A Lot Of Things That Will Contribute Towards The Progress Of Our Society.

Let Us Give Publicity To H.i.v./aids And Not Hide It, Because The Only Way To Make It Appear Like A Normal Illness Like Tb, Like Cancer, Is Always To Come Out And Say Somebody Has Died Because Of H.i.v./aids, And People Will Stop Regarding It As Something Extraordinary.

Forgiveness Liberates The Soul. It Removes Fear. That Is Why It Is Such A Powerful Weapon.

Blaming Things On The Past Does Not Make Them Better.

When A Man Is Denied The Right To Live The Life He Believes In, He Has No Choice But To Become An Outlaw.

Resentment Is Like Drinking Poison And Then Hoping It Will Kill Your Enemies.

There Is No Easy Walk To Freedom Anywhere.

Shadow Of Death

When The Water Starts Boiling It Is Foolish To Turn Off The Heat.

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. That Is Why It Is So Important That The Fifa World Cup Will, For The First Time Ever, Be Hosted On The African Continent In 2010. We Feel Privileged And Humbled That South Africa Has Been Given This Singular Honour Of Being The African Host Country.

Educating All Of Our Children Must Be One Of Our Most Urgent Priorities. We All Know That Education, More Than Anything Else, Improves Our Chances Of Building Better Lives.

By Ancestry, I Was Born To Rule.

It Is Wise To Persuade People To Do Things And Make Them Think It Was Their Own Idea.

When We Can Sit In The Face Of Insanity Or Dislikes And Be Free From The Need To Make It Different, Then We Are Free.

I Have Often Wondered Whether A Person Is Justified In Neglecting His Own Family To Fight For Opportunities For Others.

The Curious Beauty About African Music Is That It Uplifts Even As It Tells A Sad Story.

But The Human Body Has An Enormous Capacity For Adjusting To Trying Circumstances. I Have Found That One Can Bear The Unbearable If One Can Keep One's Spirits Strong Even When One's Body Is Being Tested. Strong Convictions Are The Secret Of Surviving Deprivation; Your Spirit Can Be Full Even When Your Stomach Is Empty.

I Shall Stick To Our Vow: Never, Never Under Any Circumstances, To Say Anything Unbecoming Of The Other...the Trouble, Of Course, Is That Most Successful Men Are Prone To Some Form Of Vanity. There Comes A Stage In Their Lives When They Consider It Permissible To Be Egotistic And To Brag To The Public At Large About Their Unique Achievements.

I Can't Help It If The Ladies Take Note Of Me; I Am Not Going To Protest.

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.

We Must Work Together To Ensure The Equitable Distribution Of Wealth, Opportunity And Power In Our Society.

Working Together

Distribution Of Wealth

South Africans Must Recall The Terrible Past So That We Can Deal With It, Forgiving Where Forgiveness Is Necessary But Never Forgetting.

[i] Read Anne Frank's Diary [while Imprisoned] On Robben Island And Derived Much Encouragement From It.

Let There Be Work, Bread, Water And Salt For All.

No Power On This Earth Can Destroy The Thirst For Human Dignity

While Poverty Persists, There Is No True Freedom.

Do Not Allow Your Anger To Control Your Reason, But Rather Your Reason To Control Your Anger.

The Majority Of South Africans, Black And White, Recognize That Apartheid Has No Future. It Has To Be Ended By Our Own Decisive Mass Action In Order To Build Peace And Security. The Mass Campaign Of Defiance And Other Actions Of Our Organization And People Can Only Culminate In The Establishment Of Democracy.

Black And White

It Is In Your Hands To Create A Better World For All Who Live In It.

It Never Hurts To Think Too Highly Of A Person; Often They Become Ennobled And Act Better Because Of It.

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.

We Understand It Still That There Is No Easy Road To Freedom. We Know It Well That None Of Us Acting Alone Can Achieve Success. We Must Therefore Act Together As A United People, For National Reconciliation, For Nation Building, For The Birth Of A New World. Let There Be Justice For All. Let There Be Peace For All. Let There Be Work, Bread, Water And Salt For All. Never, Never And Never Again Shall It Be That This Beautiful Land Will Again Experience The Oppression Of One By Another And Suffer The Indignity Of Being The Skunk Of The World. Let Freedom Reign.

Justice For All

You Can Never Have An Impact On Society If You Have Not Changed Yourself.

Does Anybody Really Think That They Didn't Get What They Had Because They Didn't Have The Talent Or The Strength Or The Endurance Or The Commitment?

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.

In All Disputes, A Point Is Arrived At Where No Party, No Matter How Right Or Wrong It Might Have Been At The Start Of That Dispute, Will Any Longer Be Totally In The Right Or Totally In The Wrong. Such A Point I Believe, Has Been Reached In This Debate... Let Us Not Equivocate. A Tragedy Of Unprecedented Proportions Is Unfolding In Africa.

Let Us Give Practical Recognition To The Injustices Of The Past,by Building A Future Based On Equality&social Justice

We Succeeded To Take Our Last Steps To Freedom In Conditions Of Relative Peace. We Commit Ourselves To The Construction Of A Complete, Just And Lasting Peace. We Have Triumphed In The Effort To Implant Hope In The Breasts Of The Millions Of Our People.

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.

May Your Choices Reflect Your Hopes, Not Your Fears.

I Regard It As A Duty Which I Owed, Not Just To My People, But Also To My Profession, To The Practice Of Law, And To The Justice For All Mankind, To Cry Out Against This Discrimination Which Is Essentially Unjust And Opposed To The Whole Basis Of The Attitude Towards Justice Which Is Part Of The Tradition Of Legal Training In This Country. I Believed That In Taking Up A Stand Against This Injustice I Was Upholding The Dignity Of What Should Be An Honorable Profession.

Justice For All

Friends, Comrades And Fellow South Africans. I Greet You All In The Name Of Peace, Democracy And Freedom For All. I Stand Here Before You Not As A Prophet But As A Humble Servant Of You, The People. Your Tireless And Heroic Sacrifices Have Made It Possible For Me To Be Here Today. I Therefore Place The Remaining Years Of My Life In Your Hands.

Only Armchair Politicians Are Immune From Committing Mistakes. Errors Are Inherent In Political Action.

As I Have Said, The First Thing Is To Be Honest With Yourself. You Can Never Have An Impact On Society If You Have Not Changed Yourself... Great Peacemakers Are All People Of Integrity, Of Honesty, But Humility.

Those South Africans Who Berate Me For Being Loyal To Our Friends, Literally They Can Go And Throw Themselves Into A Pool. I Am Not Going To Betray The Trust Of Those Who Helped Us.

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.

Once A Person Is Determined To Help Themselves, There Is Nothing That Can Stop Them.

I Am Not An Optimist, But A Great Believer Of Hope.

I Am Aware Of What The Position Is In The United States Of America. If Somebody Gives To Charity, Then He Gets A Tax Incentive, Provided The Charity Is Registered In Terms Of The Law.

You Know You Are Really Famous The Day You Discover You Have Become A Comic Character!

Thinking Is One Of The Most Important Weapons In Dealing With Problems

The True Character Of A Society Is Revealed In How It Treats Its Children.

I Appeal To The Youth And Those On The Ground: Start Talking To Each Other Across Divisions Of Race And Political Organizations.

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.

England And America

Whose Life Testifies To The Truth That There Is No Shame In Being Oppressed: Those Who Should Be Ashamed Are They Who Oppress Others.

The Youth Of Today Are The Leaders Of Tomorrow.

Leaders Of Tomorrow

Freedom Alone Is Not Enough Without Light To Read At Night, Without Time Or Access To Water To Irrigate Your Farm, Without The Ability To Catch Fish To Feed Your Family.

I'm Not Going To Sit Here And Argue With You. Just Put The Bloody Meter On.

Money Won't Create Success, The Freedom To Make It Will.

Congratulations

No Child In Africa, And In Fact Anywhere In The World, Should Be Denied Education.

There Is A Universal Respect And Even Admiration For Those Who Are Humble And Simple By Nature, And Who Have Absolute Confidence In All Human Beings Irrespective Of Their Social Status.

Sport Has The Power To Change The World... Sport Can Awaken Hope Where There Was Previously Only Despair.

Freedom Would Be Meaningless Without Security In The Home And In The Streets.

To Deny People Of Their Human Rights Is To Challenge Their Very Humanity. To Impose On Them A Wretched Life Of Huger And Deprivation Is To Dehumanize Them. But Such Has Been The Terrible Fate Of All Black Persons In Our Country Under The System Of Apartheid.

Safety And Security Don't Just Happen, They Are The Result Of Collective Consensus And Public Investment. We Owe Our Children, The Most Vulnerable Citizens In Our Society, A Life Free Of Violence And Fear.

It's Not Our Weaknesses That Frighten Us. It's Our Strengths.

Your Victory Has Demonstrated That No Person Anywhere In The World Should Not Dare To Dream Of Wanting To Change The World For A Better Place.

Only 50 Years Ago Persons With Intellectual Disabilities Were Scorned, Isolated And Neglected. Today, They Are Able To Attend School, Become Employed And Assimilate Into Their Local Community.

For 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.

Peace Is The Greatest Weapon For Development That Any Person Can Have.

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.

We Can't Fight Aids Unless We Do Much More To Fight Tb As Well.

Let Us Join Hands And Build A Truly South African Nation.

I Say To All Those Leaders, Do Not Look The Other Way. Do Not Hesitate... It Is Within Your Power To Avoid A Genocide Of Humanity.

You Negotiate In Bad Faith If You Do Not Forgive Your Adversary.

I Stand Here Before You Not As A Prophet, But As A Humble Servant Of You, The People.

It's A Tragedy What Is Happening, What Bush Is Doing. All Bush Wants Is Iraqi Oil. There Is No Doubt That The U.s. Is Behaving Badly. Why Are They Not Seeking To Confiscate Weapons Of Mass Destruction From Their Ally Israel? This Is Just An Excuse To Get Iraq's Oil.

Mass Destruction

In Many Respects, People On The Outside Suffered More Than Those Of Us In Jail. In Prison, We Ate Three Times A Day, We Had Clothing, We Had Free Medical Services, And We Could Sleep For 12 Hours.

Let Us Not Be Tempted By Those Who Try To Find The Unique Qualities In A Particular Group. In This Case, Among South Africa Indigenous People, It Reflected What Has Been Evidenced Throughout The World.

I Was Not A Messiah, But An Ordinary Man Who Had Become A Leader Because Of Extraordinary Circumstances.

I Did Not Enjoy The Violence Of Boxing So Much As The Science Of It.

It Can Be Said That There Are Four Basic And Primary Things That The Mass Of People In A Society Wish For: To Live In A Safe Environment, To Be Able To Work And Provide For Themselves, To Have Access To Good Public Health And To Have Sound Educational Opportunities For Their Children.

As Long As Poverty, Injustice And Gross Inequality Persist In Our World, None Of Us Can Truly Rest.

Some Of The Mission Groups That Have Been Responsible For Our Education Have Not Been Part Of The Government. In Fact, They Acted Contrary To What The Government Had Planned To Do.

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.

Part Of Being Optimistic Is Keeping One's Head Pointed Toward The Sun, One's Feet Moving Forward.

We Owe Our Children – The Most Vulnerable Citizens In Any Society – A Life Free From Violence And Fear.

There Is Little Favorable To Be Said About Poverty, But It Was Often An Incubator Of True Friendship. Many People Will Appear To Befriend You When You Are Wealthy, But Precious Few Will Do The Same When You Are Poor. If Wealth Is A Magnet, Poverty Is A Kind Of Repellent. Yet, Poverty Often Brings Out The True Generosity In Others.

Prison Itself Is A Tremendous Education In The Need For Patience And Perseverance. It Is Above All A Test Of One's Commitment.

Any Man Or Institution That Tries To Rob Me Of My Dignity Will Lose.

It Is Also The Fate Of Leadership To Be Misunderstood. It Is A Grave Error For Any Leader To Be Oversensitive In The Face Of Criticism, To Conduct Discussions As If He Or She Is A Schoolmaster Talking To Less Informed And Inexperienced Learners.

I Came To Accept That I Have No Right Whatsoever To Judge Others In Terms Of My Own Customs, However Much I May Be Proud Of Such Customs.

I Looked Into The Vast Dome Of Blue Emptiness That Stretched Out Above Me In All Directions And The Illusion Was Still There, The Size And Speed, And What Information They Were Sending To Mother Earth.

He Knew When To Compromise. Yet He Never Compromised His Principles. He Was A Militant. Yet A Militant Who Knew How To Plan, Assess Concrete Situations And Emerge With Rational Solutions To Problems.

We Have Introduced A Democratic Constitution, Which Put Suvery South African On An Equal Basis.

I Hate Race Discrimination Most Intensely And In All Its Manifestations. I Have Fought It All During My Life; I Fight It Now, And Will Do So Until The End Of My Days.

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.

We Have Introduced Equity Into Our Life, Including A Uniform Educational System. We Have Also Introduced A Bill Of Rights, Which Is Not Just A Piece Of Paper, But A Living Document Because We Have Created Structures That Are Totally Independent Of The Government And That Can Overrule The Government, Even The President.

Force Is The Only Language The Imperialists Can Hear, And No Country Became Free Without Some Sort Of Violence.

Communists Have Always Played An Active Role In The Fight By Colonial Countries For Their Freedom, Because The Short-term Objects Of Communism Would Always Correspond With The Long-term Objects Of Freedom Movements.

The Commonwealth Makes The World Safe For Diversity

When We Read We Are Able To Travel To Many Places, Meet Many People And Understand The World.

The Time Has Come To Accept In Our Hearts And Minds That With Freedom Comes Responsibility.

Individuals Get Caught Up In The Policy Of Their Country. In Prison, For Instance, A Warden Or Officer Is Not Promoted If He Doesn't Follow The Policy Of The Government - Though He Himself Does Not Believe In That Policy.

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.

The Day I Am Afraid To Do, That Is The Day I Am No Longer Fit To Lead.

Whenever I Am With Energetic Young People, I Feel Like A Recharged Battery.

There Is No Future Without Forgiveness

I Do Not Think That I Was Brought Up In A Unique Society With Unique Features About Giving.

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.

I Detest Racialism, Because I Regard It As A Barbaric Thing, Whether It Comes From A Black Man Or A White Man.

It Is Music And Dancing That Make Me At Peace With The World.

Men Come And Men Go, I Have Come And I Will Go When My Time Comes

There Is An Absence Of Democratic Accountability And Control In Every Sphere Of Government And The State. To Address This Debilitating Legacy Requires Determined Action And A Deep Commitment To Transforming Our Society From A Crisis Ridden Present Into Something All South Africans Can Be Truly Proud Of.

My Son Has Died Of Aids.

Take It Upon Yourself Where You Live To Make People Around You Joyful And Full Of Hope.

At The Meeting I Argued That The State Had Given Us No Alternative To Violence. I Said It Was Wrong And Immoral To Subject Our People To Armed Attacks By The State Without Offering Them Some Kind Of Alternative. I Mentioned Again That People On Their Own Had Taken Up Arms. Violence Would Begin Whether We Initiated It Or Not. Would It Not Be Better To Guide This Violence Ourselves, According To Principles Where We Saved Lives By Attacking Symbols Of Oppression, And Not People? If We Did Not Take The Lead Now, I Said, We Would Soon Be Latecomers And Followers To A Movement We Did Not Control.

Our Single Most Important Challenge Is Therefore To Help Establish A Social Order In Which The Freedom Of The Individual Will Truly Mean The Freedom Of The Individual.

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Ella Fitzgerald

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