.: Long Walk to Freedom

Nelson Mandela

 

• RESOLUTE ADHERENCE TO PRINCIPLE
• “To humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessary cruel fate. Even as a boy, I defeated my opponents without dishonoring them.”
• “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.”
• “The goal that marks the reign of all great leaders: Keep your people united. Liberals and conservatives, traditionalists…all remained loyal to him, not because they always agreed with him, but because he listened to and respected all different opinions.”

  "Education is the great engine of personal development...It is what we make our of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another."

• “As a leader, one must sometimes take actions that are unpopular, or whose results will not be known for years to come. There are victories whose glory lies only in the fact that they are known to those who win them…one must find consolation in being true to one’s ideals, even if no one else knows of it.”
• “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.”

  "Men are not capable of doing nothing, of saying nothing, of not reacting to injustice, of not protesting against oppression, of not striving for the good of society and the good of life."

• “No one ever likes to have his authority publicly challenged...Officials respond much better to private overtures. The best way to effect change…is to attempt to influence officials privately rather than publicly. Be willing to accept criticism in exchange for improvement.”
• “I regarded my role…as a promoter of unity, an honest broker, a peacemaker, and I was reluctant to take a side in…dispute...If I took a side I would jeopardize my chances of bringing about reconciliation among the different groups. If I preached unity, I must act like a unifier, even at the risk of perhaps alienating some of my colleagues.”
• “Exercise in not only a key to physical health but to peace of mind …Exercise dissipates tension, and tension is the enemy of serenity. I found that I worked better and thought more clearly when I was in good physical condition, and so training became one of the inflexible disciplines of my life.”

  "To truly lead one's people one must truly know them."

• Time and again, I have seen men and women risk and give their live for an idea. I have seen men stand up to attacks and torture without breaking, showing a strength and resiliency that defies the imagination. I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. I felt fear myself more times than I can remember, but I hid it behind a mask of boldness. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
• “In every human heart, there is mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the color 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."

  "Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished"

• “In life, every man has twin obligations—obligations to his family, to his parents, to his wife and children; and he has an obligation to his people, his community, his country.”
• “Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.”