I realized quickly what Mandela and Tambo meant to ordinary Africans. It was a place where they could come and find a sympathetic ear and a competent ally, a place where they would not be either turned away or cheated, a place where they might actually feel proud to be represented by men of their own skin color.

You know, you can only lead them from behind.

Violent means will give violent freedom. That would be a menace to the world and to India herself.

An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.

I try to be the same person I was yesterday.

It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages. 

Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.

From the beginning, Mandela and Tambo was besieged with clients. We were not the only African lawyers in South Africa, but we were the only firm of African lawyers. For Africans, we were the firm of first choice and last resort.

We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. 

Waste is worse than loss. The time is coming when every person who lays claim to ability will keep the question of waste before him constantly. The scope of thrift is limitless.

The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.

What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.