Wise Nelson Mandela Quotes

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.
- Nelson Mandela

We must use time wisely and forever realize
that the time is always ripe to do right.
- Nelson Mandela

When the water starts boiling
it is foolish to turn off the heat.
- Nelson Mandela

After climbing a great hill,
one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
- Nelson Mandela

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling,
but in rising every time we fall.
- Nelson Mandela

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.
- Nelson Mandela

There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul
than the way in which it treats its children.
- Nelson Mandela

It is better to lead from behind
and to put others in front,
especially when you celebrate victory
when nice things occur.
You take the front line when there is danger.
Then people will appreciate your leadership.
- Nelson Mandela

Let freedom reign. The sun never set
on so glorious a human achievement.
- Nelson Mandela

Education is the most powerful weapon
which you can use to change the world.
- Nelson Mandela

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged
to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
- Nelson Mandela

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear,
but the triumph over it.
The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid,
but he who conquers that fear.
- Nelson Mandela

As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
- Nelson Mandela

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.
- Nelson Mandela

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.
- Nelson Mandela

Never, never and never again shall it be
that this beautiful land will again experience
the oppression of one by another.
- Nelson Mandela

If the United States of America or Britain is having elections,
they don't ask for observers from Africa or from Asia.
But when we have elections, they want observers.
- Nelson Mandela

If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa,
there are also roads that lead to their goal.
Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.
- Nelson Mandela

I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing,
whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
- Nelson Mandela

In my country we go to prison first, and then become President.
- Nelson Mandela

Only free men can negotiate;
prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.
- Nelson Mandela

Communists have always played an active role
in the fight by colonial countries for their freedom,
because the short-term objects of Communism
would always correspond with
the long-term objects of freedom movements.
- Nelson Mandela

I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa,
whereby its leaders combine in their efforts
to solve the problems of this continent.
I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests,
of all our great wildernesses.
- Nelson Mandela

You have enemies? Good.
That means you've stood up for something,
sometime in your life.
- Winston Churchill

Write your Sad times in Sand,
Write your Good times in Stone.
- George Bernard Shaw

Treat those who are good with goodness,
and also treat those who are not good with goodness.
Thus goodness is attained.
Be honest to those who are honest,
and be also honest to those who are not honest.
Thus honesty is attained.
- Lao Tzu

There is more value in a very good painting
that is completed and on display,
than in an excellent painting
that is still in the artist's studio,
or perhaps still in his mind.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The River of Life has no meaning,
no good, no bad, no better, no worse,
no love, no hate, no fear, no anger, no joy.
The River of Life has no judgment, no expectation.
The River of Life just IS.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The only thing necessary for evil to triumph
is for enough good men to do nothing.
- Edmund Burke

Far from idleness being the root of all evil,
it is rather the only true good.
- Soren Kierkegaard

An ounce of conscious choice is worth a pound of good fortune.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Many a man fails as an original thinker
simply because his memory is too good.
- Nietzsche

To kill an error is as good a service as,
and sometimes even better than,
the establishing of a new truth or fact.
- Charles Darwin

A good question is never answered.
It is not a bolt to be tightened into place
but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed
toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.
- John Ciardi

Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care
for people will hear them and be influenced
by them for good or ill.
- The Buddha

If I am not for myself,
who will be for me?
Yet if I am for myself alone,
of what good am I?
- Hillel

A true friend is someone who
thinks that you are a good egg
even though he knows that
you are slightly cracked.
- Bernard Meltzer

When I do good, I feel good.
When I do bad, I feel bad.
That's my religion.
- Abraham Lincoln

There is nothing either good or bad,
but thinking makes it so.
- William Shakespeare

If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry,
that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware
of having no good reason for thinking as you do.
- Bertrand Russell

It is not enough to have a good mind,
the main thing is to use it well.
- Rene Descartes

The wicked leader is he who the people despise.
The good leader is he who the people revere.
The great leader is he who the people say, "We did it ourselves."
- Lao Tzu

I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything,
I still believe that people are really good at heart.
- Anne Frank

Merely to avoid harming others is not enough.
Earn your place in this world by doing good.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When one has the feeling of dislike for evil,
when one feels tranquil,
one finds pleasure in listening to good teachings;
when one has these feelings and appreciates them,
one is free of fear.
- The Buddha

A man's good name is his best monument
- from an old churchyard at Lockerbie, Scotland

About morals: I know only that
what is moral is what you feel good after
and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.
- Ernest Hemingway

A sloth lives a pretty good life, s-l-o-w-l-y.
Maybe we have something to learn from him.
Some days, being sloth-like may be just what you need
to avoid being consumed by urgency.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We see what we ASSUME we will see.
If you believe the world is evil, you will see evil.
If you believe the world is good, you will see good.
To change how life looks, change how you see life -
change your expectations of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Bad times have a scientific value.
These are occasions a good learner would not miss.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be careful not to do your good deeds
when there's no one watching you.
- Tom Lehrer

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone
who can do him absolutely no good.
- Samuel Johnson

Aim above morality.
Be not simply good,
be good for something.
- Henry David Thoreau

Often, we get stuck on a question
for which we can't find an acceptable answer.
That is a good time to consider asking a different question.
Every question is based on some assumptions -
usually invisible assumptions that we don't see, unless we go looking.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it.
It is much easier to apologize than it is to get permission.
- Grace Hopper

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