Nelson Mandela

"Bitterness is a luxury in which only people of very special psychological makeup can afford to indulge."

"The hunger for an equal place at table, you cannot take away."

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

"Our human compassion binds us the one to the other, not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learned how to turn to one another."

"The day may not be far away when the whole world recognizes South Africa as a country free from the horrors of racism."

"Sometimes quiet reflection can bring you to an interesting conclusion."

"May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears."

"There is nothing I fear more than the fear itself."

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it."

"Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

"If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy."

"There is no greater thing than to die for your beliefs."

"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."

"The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude."

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

"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."

"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."

"Mandela believed that ubuntu—I am because we are—reflects our shared humanity."

"The mind is everything. What you think, you become."

"In my country we go to prison first and then become President."

"I am fundamentally an optimist, whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say."

"Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations."

"Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will."

"Difficulties break some men but make others."

"If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal."

"Part of learning to live together is learning to listen to one another's stories."

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

"As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew that if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison."

"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."