Nelson Mandela
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.Collection: Government
People tend to measure themselves by external accomplishments, but jail allows a person to focus on internal ones; such as honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, generosity and an absence of variety. You learn to look into yourself.Collection: Honesty
It can be said that there are four basic and primary things that the mass of people in a society wish for: to live in a safe environment, to be able to work and provide for themselves, to have access to good public health and to have sound educational opportunities for their children.Collection: Children
As a leader... I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion. I always remember the axiom; 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.Collection: Leader
[I] read Anne Frank's diary [while imprisoned] on Robben Island and derived much encouragement from it.Collection: Encouragement
Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty.Collection: Integrity
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.Collection: Men
I would like it to be said: here lies a man who has done his duty on earthCollection: Lying
I was not born with a hunger to be free, I was born free.Collection: Hunger
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.Collection: Years
One of the sad realities today is that very few people, especially young people, read books. Unless we can find imaginative ways of addressing this reality, future generations are in danger of losing their history.Collection: Book
I was called a terrorist yesterday... Today I am admired by the very people who said I was one.Collection: Yesterday
But the human body has an enormous capacity for adjusting to trying circumstances. I have found that one can bear the unbearable if one can keep one's spirits strong even when one's body is being tested. Strong convictions are the secret of surviving deprivation; your spirit can be full even when your stomach is empty.Collection: Strong
The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.Collection: Leaders Of Tomorrow
In some ways, I saw the garden as a metaphor for certain aspects of my life. A leader must also tend his garden; he, too, plants seeds, and then watches, cultivates, and harvests the results. Like the gardener, a leader must take responsibility for what he cultivates; he must mind his work, try to repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved, and eliminate what cannot succeed.Collection: Responsibility
I shall stick to our vow: never, never under any circumstances, to say anything unbecoming of the other...The trouble, of course, is that most successful men are prone to some form of vanity. There comes a stage in their lives when they consider it permissible to be egotistic and to brag to the public at large about their unique achievements.Collection: Successful
The curious beauty of African music is that it uplifts even as it tells a sad tale. You may be poor, you may have only a ramshackle house, you may have lost your job, but that song gives you hope.Collection: Uplifting
In the 21st Century, the capacity to communicate will almost certainly be a key human right.Collection: Keys
Times change, we need to change as well.Collection: Needs
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.Collection: Party
There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status.Collection: Humble
I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination.Collection: Long Walks
All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil.Collection: Oil
We shall immunize every child in Africa to get rid of this terrible disease forever.Collection: Children
Justice and I became friends, though we were opposites in many ways - he was extroverted, I was introverted; he was lighthearted, I was serious.Collection: Opposites
The death sentence is a barbaric act.Collection: Death Penalty
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.Collection: War
We can't fight AIDS unless we do much more to fight TB as well.Collection: Fighting
Let us join hands and build a truly South African nation.Collection: Hands
The real meaning of the spoken word has to be demonstrated by practical deedsCollection: Real
What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.Collection: Men
Why is the United States behaving so arrogantly? All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil.Collection: Oil
Whose life testifies to the truth that there is no shame in being oppressed: Those who should be ashamed are they who oppress others.Collection: Shame
What has sustained me even in the most grim moments is the knowledge that I am a member of a tried and tested family which has triumphed over many difficulties.Collection: Moments
It is also the fate of leadership to be misunderstood. It is a grave error for any leader to be oversensitive in the face of criticism, to conduct discussions as if he or she is a schoolmaster talking to less informed and inexperienced learners.Collection: Fate
If you want to preach a revolutionary message, wear a suit.Collection: Want
Let us give practical recognition to the injustices of the past,by building a future based on equality&social justiceCollection: Past
Apart from life, a strong constitusion and an abiding connection to the Thembu royal house, the only thing my father bestowed upon me at birth was a name, RolihlahlaCollection: Strong
The greatest single challenge facing our globalised world is to combat and eradicate its disparities.Collection: Challenges
I enjoyed the discipline and solitariness of long-distance running, which allowed me to escape from the hurly-burly of school life.Collection: Running
I looked into the vast dome of blue emptiness that stretched out above me in all directions and the illusion was still there, the size and speed, and what information they were sending to mother earth.Collection: Mother
I watched, along with all of you, as the tens of thousands of our people stood patiently in long queues for many hours. Some sleeping on the open ground overnight waiting to cast this momentous vote.Collection: Sleep
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.Collection: Inspiring
You know you are really famous the day you discover you have become a comic character!Collection: Character
It's a tragedy what is happening, what Bush is doing. All Bush wants is Iraqi oil. There is no doubt that the U.S. is behaving badly. Why are they not seeking to confiscate weapons of mass destruction from their ally Israel? This is just an excuse to get Iraq's oil.Collection: Mass Destruction
The march to freedom is irreversible.Collection: March
It generally appears outlandish until its carried out.Collection: Outlandish
These numbers are staggering, in fact incomprehensible. By all accounts, we are dealing with the greatest health crisis in human history.Collection: Numbers