Latest Nelson Mandela Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• Good men and women can be mobilized to ensure that South Africa is united and that the spirit of reconciliation is strengthened and that progress in this country takes place as fast as it can.

  Nelson Mandela

  Country, Men, Good Man

  Source: www.mott.org

• There are leaders who know that however furious the debate, there are good men and women in all population groups - amongst blacks, amongst whites, and amongst Afrikaans and English speaking people.

  Nelson Mandela

  Men, People, Leader

  Source: www.mott.org

• There are people here [in South Africa] who, whatever the debate is on a particular issue, their dominating idea is that at the end of the debate we must emerge stronger than we were before and closer to one another.

  Nelson Mandela

  Ideas, Issues, People

  Source: www.mott.org

• There is nothing to popularize a person. Only humility, which is the ability to remain in the background and to put others in the front light.

  Nelson Mandela

  Humility, Light, Ability

  Source: www.mott.org

• I've found that South Africa has produced good leaders. These are people who realize that when there is danger, they should be in the forefront and when there is victory to be celebrated, they should be in the background, allowing their colleagues and the ordinary civilians - the man in the street - to rejoice and to celebrate that victory.

  Nelson Mandela

  Men, People, Leader

  Source: www.mott.org

• We have introduced equity into our life, including a uniform educational system. We have also introduced a Bill of Rights, which is not just a piece of paper, but a living document because we have created structures that are totally independent of the government and that can overrule the government, even the president.

  Nelson Mandela

  Educational, Independent, Rights

  Source: www.mott.org

• We have introduced a democratic constitution, which put suvery South African on an equal basis.

  Nelson Mandela

  Constitution, Democratic, Equal

  Source: www.mott.org

• We have introduced a rule of law into many sections of our public life.

  Nelson Mandela

  Law, Public Life, Sections

  Source: www.mott.org

• We have introduced a rule of law. That never existed for centuries in this country [South Africa], especially under the apartheid regime, when the law was reduced into disrepute.

  Nelson Mandela

  Country, Law, Century

  Source: www.mott.org

• Now we are in the second term of the government of a united nation and the government has done very well. One thing they have done, one thing people could not be blind to, was the achievement this government has made in giving human beings dignity, which they did not enjoy before. They now have dignity.

  Nelson Mandela

  Government, People, Giving

  Source: www.mott.org

• There are many people who have worked just because they love the community in which they are in, without expecting any financial consideration.

  Nelson Mandela

  People, Community, Financial

  Source: www.mott.org

• The first election in which all South Africans took part was in April, 1994. There were long queues [lines] of employers and employees, black and white. In the sense of Africans, Coloreds and Indians - when I talk about blacks, I mean those three. Blacks and whites mingled to vote without any hitches. Many people would have expected a great deal of tension, clashes and violence, but it did not occur.

  Nelson Mandela

  Mean, Black And White, Long

  Source: www.mott.org

• An initiative was essentially led by civil society because the policy of the government was that Africans must not be taught to graze in pastures which were reserved for the main white group.

  Nelson Mandela

  Government, White, Groups

  Source: www.mott.org

• Some of the mission groups that have been responsible for our education have not been part of the government. In fact, they acted contrary to what the government had planned to do.

  Nelson Mandela

  Government, Groups, Facts

  Source: www.mott.org

• Regarding African education in this country, there was a time when the government took no interest whatsoever in African education. It was the churches, that part of civil society, which bought land, built schools, and employed and paid teachers. People like myself, right from grade eight up to university, I was in missionary schools.

  Nelson Mandela

  Country, Teacher, School

  Source: www.mott.org

• I am sure that if somebody is giving a sum to charity, he or she should be encouraged to do so by the authorities because the spirit in which we encourage people to give has permeated our society.

  Nelson Mandela

  People, Giving, Charity

  Source: www.mott.org

• If we want any significant development, we must co-opt civil society.

  Nelson Mandela

  Development, Want, Significant

  Source: www.mott.org

• I am aware of what the position is in the United States of America. If somebody gives to charity, then he gets a tax incentive, provided the charity is registered in terms of the law.

  Nelson Mandela

  Law, America, Giving

  Source: www.mott.org

• I understand that the legal position is under review in South Africa and that there will soon be a broader set of organizations to which donors can give and claim tax deductions.

  Nelson Mandela

  Organization, Giving, Claims

  Source: www.mott.org

• Let us not be tempted by those who try to find the unique qualities in a particular group. In this case, among South Africa indigenous people, it reflected what has been evidenced throughout the world.

  Nelson Mandela

  Unique, People, Trying

  Source: www.mott.org

• Therefore, we must not look at the African people, even before they met whites, as if they had something unique, which was not to be found in other societies.

  Nelson Mandela

  Unique, People, Looks

  Source: www.mott.org

• I do not think that I was brought up in a unique society with unique features about giving.

  Nelson Mandela

  Unique, Thinking, Giving

  Source: www.mott.org

• [Giving] is the essence of the great religions of the world - whether you are discussing the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or Christian religion. It is an essential fundamental principle of all religions, whatever stage of development a society has reached, to sympathize with others and to promote that spirit of equality.

  Nelson Mandela

  Christian, Essence, Giving

  Source: www.mott.org

• The private sector granted bursaries [scholarships] for the children of their workers. Some of them built homes for their workers. They had in-service training, which improved the skills of their workers. So that spirit was there. All we did was merely exploit it.

  Nelson Mandela

  Children, Home, Skills

  Source: www.mott.org

• What we did was to try and exploit that spirit [the idea of giving], which was there even before I approached individual South Africans [to give to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund]. I think we must start from that angle.

  Nelson Mandela

  Children, Thinking, Ideas

  Source: www.mott.org