I should tie myself to a particular system of society other than of socialism.

Does anybody really think that they didn't get what they had because they didn't have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment?

On the first day of school, my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name and said that from thenceforth that was the name we would answer to in school. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education.

If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America.

Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity's belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul, and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all.

Unlike some politicians, I can admit to a mistake.

Give a child love, laughter and peace, not AIDS.

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

It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea.

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.

I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.

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

I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.

There is no such thing as part freedom.

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

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

Forget the past.

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

No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.

Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.

Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.

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

Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.

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

We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.

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. 

As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.

To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.

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

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