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One Of The Things That Made Me Long To Be Back In Prison Was That I Had So Little Opportunity For Reading, Thinking And Quiet Reflection After My Release. I Intend, Amongst Other Things, To Give Myself Much More Opportunity For Such Reading And Reflection.

-Nelson Mandela

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One Of The Things

Nelson Mandela

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One Of The Things That Made Me Long To Be Back In Prison Was That I Had So Little Opportunity For Reading, Thinking And Quiet Reflection After My Release. I Intend, Amongst Other Things, To Give Myself Much More Opportunity For Such Reading And Reflection.

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Hope Is A Powerful Weapon, And (one) No One Power On Earth Can Deprive You Of.

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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.

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

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As I Walked Out The Door Toward The Gate That Would Lead To My Freedom, I Knew If I Didn't Leave My Bitterness And Hatred Behind, I'd Still Be In Prison.

Do Not Judge Me By My Success, Judge Me By How Many Times I Fell Down And Got Back Up Again.

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Where You Stand Depends On Where You Sit.

For Me, Nonviolence Was Not A Moral Principle But A Strategy; There Is No Moral Goodness In Using An Ineffective Weapon.

What Freedom Am I Being Offered While The Organization Of The People Remains Banned? Only Free Men Can Negotiate. A Prisoner Cannot Enter Into Contracts.

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.

I Have Been Influenced In My Thinking By Both West And East.

If The United States Of America Or Britain Is Having Elections, They Don't Ask For Observers From Africa Or From Asia. But When We Have Elections, They Want Observers.

Those Who Can't Imagine Change Reveal The Deficits Of Their Imaginations, Not The Difficulty Of Change.

Gandhi Rejects The Adam Smith Notion Of Human Nature As Motivated By Self-interest And Brute Needs And Returns Us To Our Spiritual Dimension With Its Impulses For Nonviolence, Justice And Equality. He Exposes The Fallacy Of The Claim That Everyone Can Be Rich And Successful Provided They Work Hard. He Points To The Millions Who Work Themselves To The Bone And Still Remain Hungry.

Where Globalization Means, As It So Often Does, That The Rich And Powerful Now Have New Means To Further Enrich And Empower Themselves At The Cost Of The Poorer And Weaker, We Have A Responsibility To Protest In The Name Of Universal Freedom.

It Is Through Education That The Daughter Of A Peasant Can Become A Doctor.

There Are Times When A Leader Must Move Out Ahead Of The Flock, Go Off In A New Direction, Confident That He Is Leading His People The Right Way.

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.

This Must Be A World Of Democracy And Respect For Human Rights, A World Freed From The Horrors Of Poverty, Hunger, Deprivation And Ignorance, Relieved Of The Threat And The Scourge Of Civil Wars And External Aggression And Unburdened Of The Great Tragedy Of Millions Forced To Become Refugees.

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There Is Nothing More Dangerous Than A Humiliated Man.

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The Cause Of Communism Is The Greatest Cause In The History Of Mankind!

It Is Necessary To Heal The Wounds Of The Past If You Are Going To Build Your Country And To Have Unity. I Am Working With People Who Fought Me Very Bitterly Before The Elections. It Was My Responsibility As The Man Who Is Leading The Majority Party, My Responsibility To Heal The Wounds Of The Past And To Work With People Who Were My Opponents.

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

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 Must Use Time Wisely And Forever Realize That The Time Is Always Ripe To Do Right.

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

There Are So Many Men And Women Who Hold No Distinctive Positions But Whose Contribution Towards The Development Of Society Has Been Enormous.

No Form Of Violence Can Ever Be Excused In A Society That Wishes To Call Itself Decent

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.

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.

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.

A Man Who Takes Away Another Man's Freedom Is A Prisoner Of Hatred, He Is Locked Behind The Bars Of Prejudice And Narrow Mindedness.

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.

Know Your Enemy - And Learn About His Favorite Sport.

Learn To Know Yourself... To Search Realistically And Regularly The Processes Of Your Own Mind And Feelings.

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

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