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We Have Introduced A Rule Of Law. That Never Existed For Centuries In This Country [south Africa], Especially Under The Apartheid Regime, When The Law Was Reduced Into Disrepute.

-Nelson Mandela

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We Have Introduced A

Nelson Mandela

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We Have Introduced A Rule Of Law. That Never Existed For Centuries In This Country [south Africa], Especially Under The Apartheid Regime, When The Law Was Reduced Into Disrepute.

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Before I Went To Jail, I Was Active In Politics As A Member Of South Africa's Leading Organization - And I Was Generally Busy From 7 A.m. Until Midnight. I Never Had Time To Sit And Think.

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One Of The Most Difficult Things Is Not To Change Society - But To Change Yourself.

Those Who Conduct Themselves With Morality, Integrity And Consistency Need Not Fear The Forces Of Inhumanity And Cruelty.

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

I Will Use The Rest Of My Life To Help The Poor Overcome The Problems Confronting Them - Poverty Is The Greatest Challenge Facing Humanity. That Is Why I Build Schools; I Want To Free People From Poverty And Illiteracy.

The Usa Is A Threat To World Peace. Who Are They To Pretend That They Are The Policemen Of The World, The Ones That Should Decide For The People Of Iraq What Should Be Done With Their Government And Their Leadership. All That [the Usa] Wants Is Iraqi Oil. [blair Is] Simply The Foreign Minister Of The United States. He Is No Longer Prime Minister Of Britain.

Whether You Change The Linen Or Stitch Up Wounds, Cook The Food Or Dispense The Medicines, It Is In Your Hands To Help Build A Public Service Worthy Of All Those Who Gave Their Lives For The Dream Of Democracy

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.

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

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.

Home Is Home Even For Those Who Aspire To Serve Wider Interests And Who Have Established Their Home Of Choice In Distant Regions.

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.

If You Look At Those Matters, You Will Come To The Conclusion That The Attitude Of The United States Of America Is A Threat To World Peace.

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.

The World Is Truly Round And Seems To Start And End With Those We Love.

What We Did Was To Try And Exploit That Spirit [the Idea Of Giving], Which Was There Even Before I Approached Individual South Africans [to Give To The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund]. I Think We Must Start From That Angle.

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

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Distribution Of Wealth

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.

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.

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I Know That, Throughout The World, There Are Good Men And Women Concerned With The Greatest Challenges Facing Society Today - Poverty, Illiteracy, And Disease.

I Hate Racial Discrimination Most Intensely And All Its Manifestations. I Have Fought All My Life; I Fight Now, And Will Do So Until The End Of My Days. Even Although I Now Happen To Be Tried By One, Whose Opinion I Hold In High Esteem, I Detest Most Violently The Set-up That Surrounds Me Here. It Makes Me Feel That I Am A Black Man In A White Man's Court. This Should Not Be I Should Feel Perfectly At Ease And At Home With The Assurance That I Am Being Tried By A Fellow South African, Who Does Not Regard Me As An Inferior, Entitled To A Special Type Of Justice.

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

The Truth Is We Are Not Yet Free; We Have Merely Achieved The Freedom To Be Free.

Through Its Imperialist System Britain Brought About Untold Suffering Of Millions Of People. And This Is An Historical Fact. To Be Able To Admit This Would Increase The Respect, You Know, Which We Have For British Institutions.

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It Is Always Impossible Until It Is Done.

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We Have Introduced A Rule Of Law Into Many Sections Of Our Public Life.

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There Can Be No Keener Revelation Of A Society's Soul Than The Way In Which It Treats Its Children.

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In My Country We Go To Prison First And Then Become President.

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Congratulations

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Our March To Freedom Is Irreversible. We Must Not Allow Fear To Stand In Our Way. Universal Suffrage On A Common Voters' Roll In A United, Democratic And Non-racial South Africa Is The Only Way To Peace And Racial Harmony.

It Generally Appears Outlandish Until Its Carried Out.

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As The Years Progress One Increasingly Realises The Importance Of Friendship And Human Solidarity. And If A 90-year-old May Offer Some Unsolicited Advice On This Occasion, It Would Be That You, Irrespective Of Your Age, Should Place Human Solidarity, The Concern For The Other, At The Centre Of The Values By Which You Live.

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It Is Your Duty To Examine The Conduct Of Public Figures And To Place Them In The Spotlight - That Is Your Duty.

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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.

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

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Nonviolence Is A Good Policy When The Conditions Permit.

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We Shall Immunize Every Child In Africa To Get Rid Of This Terrible Disease Forever.

As We Judge Others So Are We Judged By Others. The Suspicious Will Always Be Tormented By Suspicion.

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

Young People Are Capable, When Aroused, Of Bringing Down The Towers Of Oppression And Raising The Banners Of Freedom.

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

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

Soccer Is One Of The Most Unifying Activities Amongst Us.

What He Means By This Is That Instead Of Saying You'll "try", You Need To "do". And As We Let Our Light Shine, We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same. As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others.

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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.

I Discovered Even Before I Went To Jail That Apartheid Was Not Run By People Who Were Monolithic In Their Approach. Some Of Them Didn't Even Believe In Apartheid.

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There Is No Easy Walk To Freedom Anywhere.

Shadow Of Death

If You Are Poor, You Are Not Likely To Live Long.

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.

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.

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.

I Really Wanted To Retire And Rest And Spend More Time With My Children, My Grandchildren And Of Course With My Wife. But The Problems Are Such That For Anybody With A Conscience Who Can Use Whatever Influence He May Have To Try To Bring About Peace, It's Difficult To Say No.

I've Never Had A Single Moment Of Depression, Because I Know My Cause Will Triumph.

As Long As Many Of Our People Still Live In Utter Poverty, As Long As Children Still Live Under Plastic Covers, As Long As Many Of Our People Are Still Without Jobs, No South African Should Rest And Wallow In The Joy Of Freedom.

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.

Our Hope Is That The Elementary Reading Of Comics Will Lead To The Joy Of Reading Good Books.

The Titanic Effort That Has Brought Liberation To South Africa, And Ensured The Total Liberation Of Africa, Constitutes An Act Of Redemption For The Black People Of The World.

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

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

I Was Able To Change My Life By Knowing That If Somebody Does Something Good For You, You Have To Respond.

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

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

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

Out Of The Experience Of Extraordinary Human Disaster That Lasted Too Long, Must Be Born A Society Of Which All Humanity Will Be Proud.

When We Dehumanise And Demonise Our Opponents, We Abandon The Possibility Of Peacefully Resolving Our Differences, And Seek To Justify Violence Against Them.

I Have Cherished The Ideal Of A Democratic And Free Society In Which All Persons Live Together In Harmony And With Equal Opportunities.

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

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.

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.

I Went As An Observer, Not A Participant, For I Do Not Think That I Ever Spoke. I Wanted To Understand The Issues Under Discussion, Evaluate The Arguments, See The Calibre Of The Men Involved.

Freedom Can Never Be Taken For Granted. Each Generation Must Safeguard It And Extend It. Your Parents And Elders Sacrificed Much So That You Should Have Freedom Without Suffering What They Did. Use This Precious Right To Ensure That The Darkness Of The Past Never Returns.

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

Courage Is Not The Absence Of Fear — It S Inspiring Others To Move Beyond It.

To Deny People Their Human Rights Is To Challenge Their Very Humanity.

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.

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.

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

We Can Change The World And Make It A Better Place. It Is In Your Hands To Make A Difference.

The Time Is Always Right To Do Right

I Understand That The Legal Position Is Under Review In South Africa And That There Will Soon Be A Broader Set Of Organizations To Which Donors Can Give And Claim Tax Deductions.

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

With Freedom Comes Responsibilities, And I Dare Not Linger, For My Long Walk Has Not Ended Yet.

I Never Think Of The Time I Have Lost. I Just Carry Out A Programme Because It's There. It's Mapped Out For Me.

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.

It Is What We Make Out Of What We Have, Not What We Are Given, That Separates One Person From Another.

Self Actualization

The Time Will Come When Our Nation Will Honour The Memory Of All The Sons, The Daughters, The Mothers, The Fathers, The Youth And The Children Who, By Their Thoughts And Deeds, Gave Us The Right To Assert With Pride That We Are South Africans, That We Are Africans, And That We Are Citizens Of The World.

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

We Tried In Our Simple Way To Lead Our Life In A Manner That May Make A Difference To Those Of Others.

Greece Is The Mother Of Democracy And South Africa Is Its Youngest Daughter

If We Want Any Significant Development, We Must Co-opt Civil Society.

Disasters Will Always Come And Go, Leaving Their Victims Either Completely Broken Or Steeled And Seasoned And Better Able To Face The Next Crop Of Challenges That May Occur.

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.

If You Want To Make Peace With Your Enemy, You Have To Work With Your Enemy. Then He Becomes Your Partner.

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.

Like All Xhosa Children, I Acquired Knowledge Mainly Through Observation. We Were Meant To Learn Through Imitation And Emulation, Not Through Questions. When I First Visited The Homes Of Whites, I Was Often Dumbfounded By The Number And Nature Of Questions That Children Asked Of Their Parents-and Their Parents' Unfailing Willingness To Answer Them. In My Household, Questions Were Considered A Nuisance; Adults Imparted Information As They Considered Necessary.

I Have Never Cared Very Much For Personal Prizes. A Person Does Not Become A Freedom Fighter In The Hope Of Winning Awards.

I Realized That They Could Take Everything From Me Except My Mind And My Heart. They Could Not Take Those Things. Those Things I Still Had Control Over. And I Decided Not To Give Them Away.

The Suffering Inflicted, And More Often Than Not On The Most Vulnerable Sectors Of Society, Demeans All Of Us As Humanity. That It Is Invariably Women, Children, The Aged And Disabled Who Suffer In These Conflicts Stands To The Added Shame Of Humankind.

A Fundamental Concern For Others In Our Individual And Community Lives Would Go A Long Way In Making The World The Better Place We So Passionately Dreamt Of.

Concern For Others

When I Closed The Grapes Of Wrath, I Was A Different Man. It Enriched My Powers Of Thinking And Discipline, And My Relationships. I Left Prison More Informed Than When I Went In. And The More Informed You Are, The Less Arrogant And Aggressive You Are.

You Have A Limited Time To Stay On Earth. You Must Try To Use That Period For The Purpose Of Transforming Your Country Into What You Desire It To Be: A Democratic, Non-racial, Non-sexist Country. And That Is A Great Task.

Our Human Compassion Binds Us The One To The Other - Not In Pity Or Patronizingly, But As Human Beings Who Have Learnt How To Turn Our Common Suffering Into Hope For The Future.

Exercise Is The Key Not Only To Physical Health But To Peace Of Mind.

The March To Freedom Is Irreversible.

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.

My Respect For Human Beings Is Based Not On The Colour Of A Man’s Skin Nor Authority He May Wield, But Purely On Merit.

A Leader. . .is Like A Shepherd. He Stays Behind The Flock, Letting The Most Nimble Go Out Ahead, Whereupon The Others Follow, Not Realizing That All Along They Are Being Directed From Behind.

We Must Appreciate That All Over The World, Right Down The Centuries, There Have Been Great Religions That Have Encouraged The Idea Of Giving - Of Fighting Poverty And Of Promoting The Equality Of Human Beings - Whatever Their Background, Whatever Their Political Beliefs.

A Critical, Independent And Investigative Press Is The Lifeblood Of Any Democracy. The Press Must Be Free From State Interference. It Must Have The Economic Strength To Stand Up To The Blandishments Of Government Officials. It Must Have Sufficient Independence From Vested Interests To Be Bold And Inquiring Without Fear Or Favour. It Must Enjoy The Protection Of The Constitution, So That It Can Protect Our Rights As Citizens.

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.

I Would Like It To Be Said: Here Lies A Man Who Has Done His Duty On Earth

Abject Poverty Is Demeaning, Is An Assault On The Dignity Of Those That Suffer It. In The End It Demeans Us All. It Makes The Freedom Of All Of Us Less Meaningful.

If You Want To Preach A Revolutionary Message, Wear A Suit.

You Mustn't Compromise Your Principles, But You Mustn't Humiliate The Opposition. No One Is More Dangerous Than One Who Is Humiliated.

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.

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

There Is Nothing I Fear More Than Waking Up Without A Program That Will Help Me Bring A Little Happiness To Those With No Resources, Those Who Are Poor, Illiterate, And Ridden With Terminal Disease.

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

The Victory Of Democracy In South Africa Is The Common Achievement Of All Humanity.

I Do Not Deny That I Planned Sabotage. I Did Not Plan It In A Spirit Of Recklessness Nor Because I Have Any Love Of Violence. I Planned It As A Result Of A Calm And Sober Assessment Of The Political Situation That Had Arisen After Many Years Of Tyranny, Exploitation And Oppression Of My People By The Whites.

In My Younger Days, I Was Arrogant - Jail Helped Me To Get Rid Of It. I Did Nothing But Make Enemies Because Of My Arrogance.

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.

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.

Give A Child Love, Laughter And Peace, Not Aids.

Each Of Us, As Citizens, Has A Role To Play In Creating A Better World For Our Children

It Is Time For The Next Generations To Continue Our Struggle Against Social Injustice And For The Rights Of Humanity. It Is In Your Hands.

If There Is One Thing In This Planet That Has The Power To Bind People It Is Soccer.

I Cannot And Will Not Give Any Undertaking At A Time When I, And You, The People, Are Not Free. Your Freedom And Mine Cannot Be Separated.

I Am Not The Only One Who Did Not Want Revenge. Almost All My Colleagues In Prison Did Not Want Revenge, Because There Is No Time To Do Anything Else Except To Try And Save Your People.

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

If You Sit Down And Talk To A Person, It's Easy To Convince Him That Apartheid Can Never Save A Country And Will Lead To The Slaughtering Of Innocent People - Including His Own People.

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.

Long Walk To Freedom

We Can't Win A War, But We Can Win An Election.

Our Continent Must Be Allowed To Do Its Own Things, Charting Its Course And Destiny.

My Son Has Died Of Aids.

Of Course We Desire Education And We Think It Is A Good Thing, But You Don't Have To Have Education In Order To Know That You Want Certain Fundamental Rights, You Have Got Aspirations, You Have Got Acclaims. It Has Nothing To Do With Education Whatsoever.

Our Children Are Our Greatest Treasure. They Are Our Future. Those Who Abuse Them Tear At The Fabric Of Our Society And Weaken Our Nation.

Greatest Treasure

I Was Made, By The Law, A Criminal, Not Because Of What I Had Done, But Because Of What I Stood For, Because Of What I Thought, Because Of My Conscience... If I Had My Time Over I Would Do The Same Again. So Would Any Man Who Dares Call Himself A Man.

You Know, You Can Only Lead Them From Behind.

I Can't Pretend That I'm Brave And That I Can Beat The Whole World.

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James McGreevey

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