Nelson Mandela

One of the mistakes which some political analysts make is to think that their enemies should be our enemies.

It always seems impossible until it’s done.

You can call it being political, or a moral question, but anybody who changes his principles depending on with whom he is dealing? That is not a man who can lead a nation.

I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.

Freedom can never be taken for granted. Each generation must safeguard it and extend it.

It`s always impossible until it`s done.

He did not make any of his reforms with the intention of putting himself out of power. He made them for precisely the opposite reason: to ensure power for the Afrikaner in a new dispensation.

Yes, sanctions were helpful, but sanctions are not enough if you do not have a strong indigenous democratic movement in your country.

Yes, sanctions were helpful. But they would not have been sufficient if there were not a strong indigenous democratic movement in South Africa. Until you have that in Nigeria, sanctions will not help.

It always seems impossible until it is done.

If it need be, it is an idea for which I am prepared to die.