06/12/2013
Freedom fighter, statesman,
moral compass and South
Africa’s symbol of the struggle
against racial oppression.
That was Nelson Mandela, who
emerged from prison after 27
years to lead his country out of
decades of apartheid.
Here are some of his inspiring
quotes:
“No one is born hating
another person because of
the
colour 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.
“There is no easy walk to
freedom anywhere, and
many of us will have to pass
through the valley of the
shadow of death again and
again before we reach the
mountaintop of our desires.
“Our struggle for freedom
and justice was a collective
effort…it
is in your hands to create a
better world for all who live
in it.
“Out of the experience of an
extraordinary human
disaster that lasted too long,
must be born a society of
which all humanity will be
proud.
“We understand it still that
there is no easy road to
freedom. We know it well
that none of us acting alone
can acheive success. We
must therefore act together
as a united people, for
national reconciliation, for
nation building, for the birth
of a new world.
“To deny people their human
rights is to challenge their
very humanity. To impose on
them a wretched life of
hunger 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.
“People may say to spend 27
years in prison you have
wasted your life. But the
greatest thing for a politician
is whether the ideas to
which you’ve committed
your life are still alive,
whether these ideas are
likely to triumph in the end,
and everything that
happened showed that we
have not sacrificed in vain.
“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.
“Only armchair politicians are
immune from committing
mistakes.Errors are inherent
in political action.
“Until I was jailed I never
fully appreciated the capacity
of memory, the endless
string of information the
head can carry.”
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