When I closed THE GRAPES OF WRATH, I was a different man. It enriched my powers of thinking and discipline, and my relationships. I left prison more informed than when I went in. And the more informed you are, the less arrogant and aggressive you are.
I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this - who will count the votes, and how.
Direct elections on the spot to all representative organs, up to the supreme organ, are a better guarantee of the interests of the working population of our boundless country.
Abject poverty is demeaning, is an assault on the dignity of those that suffer it. In the end it demeans us all. It makes the freedom of all of us less meaningful.
America could carry on a two years' war by the confiscation of the property of disaffected persons, and be made happy by their expulsion. Say not that this is revenge, call it rather the soft resentment of a suffering people, who, having no object in view but the good of all, have staked their own all upon a seemingly doubtful event. Yet it is folly to argue against determined hardness; eloquence may strike the ear, and the language of sorrow draw forth the tear of compassion, but nothing can reach the heart that is steeled with prejudice.
An educated, enlightened & informed population is one of the surest ways of promoting the health of a democracy
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.
Sometimes strident, often tender, never afraid and seldom without humour, Desmond Tutu's voice will always be the voice of the voiceless.
An army of the people is invincible!
The United States has made serious mistakes in the conduct of its foreign affairs, which have had unfortunate repercussions long after the decisions were taken.
It is a grave error for any leader to be oversensitive in the face of criticism
Government is not a trade which any man or body of men has a right to set up and exercise for his own emolument, but is altogether a trust, in right of those by whom that trust is delegated, and by whom it is always resumable. It has of itself no rights; they are altogether duties.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
I would like to be remembered not as anyone unique or special, but as part of a great team in this country that has struggled for many years, for decades and even centuries. The greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall.
I fear not, I see not reason for fear. In the end we will be the victors. For though at times the flame of liberty may cease to shine, the ember will never expire.
But such is the irresistable nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing.
To slacken the tempo...would mean falling behind. And those who fall behind get beaten.
I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.
While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.
Anyone who sees only the bright side but not the difficulties cannot fight effectively for the accomplishment of the Party's tasks.
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.
Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life . . .
No form of violence can ever be excused in a society that wishes to call itself decent
The victory of democracy in South Africa is the common achievement of all humanity.
We think too small, like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view.
People of the world, unite and defeat the U.S. aggressors and all their running dogs!
Revolution is a drama of passion. We did not win the people over by appealing to reason but by developing hope, trust, fraternity.
It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes.
We are extricating ourselves from a system that insulted our common humanity by dividing us from one another on the basis of race and setting us against each other as oppressed and oppressor. That system committed a crime against humanity.
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
There is nobody more dangerous than one who has been humiliated, even when you humiliate him rightly.
It is also the fate of leadership to be misunderstood. For historians, academics, writers and journalists to reflect great lives according to their own subjective canon.
But the human body has an enormous capacity for adjusting to trying circumstances. I have found that one can bear the unbearable if one can keep one's spirits strong even when one's body is being tested. Strong convictions are the secret of surviving deprivation; your spirit can be full even when your stomach is empty.
Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority; perfect equality affords no temptation.
A man will pass better through the world with a thousand open errors upon his back than in being detected in one sly falsehood. When one is detected, a thousand are suspected.
Wherever our comrades go they must build good relations with the masses, be concerned for them and help them overcome their difficulties. We must unite with the masses, the more of the masses we unite with, the better
It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all.
The majority of South Africans, black and white, recognize that apartheid has no future. It has to be ended by our own decisive mass action in order to build peace and security. The mass campaign of defiance and other actions of our organization and people can only culminate in the establishment of democracy.
We speak here of the challenge of the dichotomies of war and peace, violence and non-violence, racism and human dignity, oppression and repression and liberty and human rights, poverty and freedom from want.
So far, the Far Eastern focal point of danger is the most active.It is possible, however, that the center of the menace may shift to Europe. Evidence of this is provided, for instance, by [Adolf] Hitler's recent interview given to a French paper. In this interview, Hitler seems to attempt to say peaceful things. But this "peacefulness" of his is so thickly interspersed with threats against France and the Soviet Union that nothing remains of the "peacefulness".
If the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, then you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid government.
Out of the experience of extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud.
Every person of learning is finally his own teacher.
MY greatest regret in life is that I never became the heavyweight boxing champion ofthe world.
The press must grow day in and day out - it is our Party's sharpest and most powerful weapon.
Man must go back to nature for information.
The time is always right to do right
...the evil system of colonialism and imperialism arose and throve with the enslavement of Negroes and the trade in Negroes, and it will surely come to its end with the complete emancipation of the Black people.
Power comes from the muzzle of a gun, those that have the guns have the power, those that have the power dictate what type of government their shall be.
The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world not destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside ... Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them ... the weak will become prey to the strong.
We should never forget those on whose shoulders we stand and those who paid the supreme price for freedom.
A share in two revolutions is living to some purpose.
I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, Henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.
A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron.
The more informed you are, the less arrogant and aggressive you are.
From the east to the west blow the trumpet to arms! Through the land let the sound of it flee; Let the far and the near all unite, with a cheer, In defense of our Liberty Tree.
History shows that wars are divided into two kinds-just and unjust. All wars that are progressive are just, and all wars that impede progress are unjust.
A real leader uses every issue, no matter how serious and sensitive, to ensure that at the end of the debate we should emerge stronger and more united than ever before.
Liberty cannot be purchased by a wish.
The world is progressing, the future is bright and no one can change this general trend of history. We should carry on constant propaganda among the people on the facts of world progress and the bright future ahead so that they will build their confidence in victory.
