Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandelawas a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black chief executive, and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as President of the African National Congressparty from 1991 to 1997...
NationalitySouth African
ProfessionWorld Leader
Date of Birth18 July 1918
CityMvezo, South Africa
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 admire young people who are concerned with the affairs of their community and nation perhaps because I also became involved in struggle whist I was still at school.
We recall the joy and excitement of a nation that had found itself, the collective relief that we had stepped out of our restrictive past, and the expectant air of walking into a brighter future.
I appeal to the Youth and those on the ground: start talking to each other across divisions of race and political organizations.
Young people are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom.
It is my deepest conviction that the children should be seen and heard as our most treasured assets.
I have retired, but if there's anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.
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.
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.
It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor.
I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed.
[I] read Anne Frank's diary [while imprisoned] on Robben Island and derived much encouragement from it.
If you don’t intend having a compromise, you don’t negotiate at all.
We know what needs to be done -- all that is missing is the will to do it,