Forget the past.
Sometimes, I feel like one who is on the sidelines, who has missed life itself.
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.
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.
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 n...
If I preached unity, I must act like a unifier, even at the risk of perhaps alienating some of my own colleagues.
When I came to Johannesburg from the countryside, I knew nobody, but many strangers were very kind to me. I then was dragged into politics, and then, subsequently, I became a lawyer.
It is said that 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.
Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.
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?
Only free men can negotiate prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.
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.
Whatever position I occupied, it was the result of colleagues - of my comrades in the movement - who had decided in their wisdom to use me for the purpose of focusing the attention of the country and...
At the outset, I want to say that the suggestion that the struggle in South Africa is under the influence of foreigners or communists is wholly incorrect. I have done whatever I did because of my expe...
I came across few whites as a boy at Qunu. The local magistrate, of course, was white, as was the nearest shopkeeper. Occasionally, white travelers or policemen passed through our area. These whites a...
Where you stand depends on where you sit.
Some men, under the pressure of incarceration, showed true mettle, while others revealed themselves as less than what they had appeared to be.
I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife.
I made a mistake by being ejected from the presidency. Next time, I will choose a Cabinet which will allow me to be life President.
I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were ma...