To honor Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, who died on December 5th of 2013 at the age of 95, Mamiverse has selected 20 of his most inspiring quotes on leadership, resilience and compassion.
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You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.
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If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
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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.
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A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.
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Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.”
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Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.
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There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.
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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.
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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.
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And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Read Related: 30 Inspirational Quotes by Martin Luther King Jr.
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It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.
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When people are determined they can overcome anything.
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Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
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It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world.
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Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural.
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If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
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What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.
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Religion is one of the most important forces in the world. Whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew, or a Hindu, religion is a great force, and it can help one have command of one’s own morality, one’s own behavior, and one’s own attitude.
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There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.
- I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
