Nelson Mandela quotes for UPSC

Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty.

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

A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.

When the history of our times is written, will we be remembered as the generation that turned our backs in a moment of global crisis or will it be recorded that we did the right thing?

I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife. But the problems are such that for anybody with a conscience who can use whatever influence he may have to try to bring about peace, it's difficult to say no.

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.

Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.

When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.

No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.

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.

We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians; without the resolution of conflicts in East Timor, the Sudan and other parts of the world.

Any man that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.

I have never regarded any man as my superior, either in my life outside or inside prison.

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

No one is born hating another person because of the colour 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.

Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world and is a powerful part of that world changing arsenal.

We are deeply concerned, both in our country and here, of the very large number of dropouts by schoolchildren. This is a very disturbing situation, because the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow... try as much as possible to remain in school, because education is the most powerful weapon which we can use.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come. The time to build is upon us.

As a movement we recognise the legitimacy of Palestinian nationalism just as we recognise the legitimacy of Zionism as a Jewish nationalism. We insist on the right of the state of Israel to exist within secure borders but with equal vigour support the Palestinian right to national self-determination.

The Gandhian influence dominated freedom struggles on the African continent right up to the 1960s because of the power it generated and the unity it forged among the apparently powerless. Nonviolence was the official stance of all major African coalitions, and the South African A.N.C. remained implacably opposed to violence for most of its existence.

South Africa needs all its people black and white; young and old; Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Jewish. There is a place for all of us provided we have the courage to work together to build that common future.

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.

Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.

Prison itself is a tremendous education in the need for patience and perseverance. It is above all a test of one's commitment.

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.

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.

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.

It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

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

I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.

I have always believed that exercise is the key not only 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.