South African anti-apartheid leader and revolutionary Nelson Mandela’s birthday is Monday, July 18th. As celebrations of his legacy take place world wide, many also used #MandelaDay to remember his impact and influence.
Here are 17 Mandela quotes to provide wisdom and understanding in turbulent times:
“People come and go. Customs, fashions and preferences change. Yet the web of fundamental rights and justice which a nation proclaims must not be broken.”
“The time for healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come. Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the sunk of the world. Let freedom reign. the sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!”
“Too many have suffered for the love of freedom. I too cannot sell my birthright, nor am I prepared to sell the birthright of my people to be free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.”
“Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant action can freedom be won. The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.”
“…I would like to emphasize the aims of our campaign over again. We are not in opposition to any government or class of people. We are opposing a system which has for years kept a vast section of the non-European people in bondage. Though it takes us years, we are prepared to continue the campaign…”
“True, the struggle will be a bitter one. Leaders will be deported, imprisoned, and even shot. The government will terrorize the people and their people and their leaders in an effort to halt the forward march; ordinary forms of organization will be rendered impossible. But the spirit of the people cannot be crushed…until full victory is won.”
“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.”
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”
“I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.”
“I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days.”
“Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.”
“We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”
“When a deep injury is done to us, we never heal until we forgive.”
“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
“There is no such thing as part freedom.”
