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?
Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.
Any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.
No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.
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.
Keep your friends close – and your rivals even closer.
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.
I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.
There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty.
I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.
In countries where innocent people are dying, the leaders are following their blood rather than their brains.
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
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.
Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.
Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.
Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.
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.
I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.
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.