Quotable Quotes

Inspirational quotes from Nelson Mandela:

[h=2]On optimism[/h]“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 many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.” —Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
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“No, no, no, everything is all right. I have regular medical check-ups and they say I won’t die this week.” —Larry King Live, May 16, 2000
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[h=2]On leadership[/h]“A leader. . .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” —Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
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“It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”
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[h=2]On society[/h]“It can be said that there are four basic and primary things that the mass of people in a society wish for: to live in a safe environment, to be able to work and provide for themselves, to have access to good public health and to have sound educational opportunities for their children.” —Speech at opening of Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, January 2, 2007
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“A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be free from state interference. It must have the economic strength to stand up to the blandishments of government officials. It must have sufficient independence from vested interests to be bold and inquiring without fear or favour. It must enjoy the protection of the constitution, so that it can protect our rights as citizens.” —International Press Institute Congress, 1994
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[h=2]On love and personal freedom[/h]“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” —Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
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“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” —Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
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[h=2]On perseverance[/h]“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment”
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“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
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“Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.” —From a letter to Winnie Mandela, 1975
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“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
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“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.”
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[h=2]On enemies[/h]“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
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“I am not the only one who did not want revenge. Almost all my colleagues in prison did not want revenge, because there is no time to do anything else except to try and save your people.” —Larry King Live, May 16, 2000
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“I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists. I tell them that I was also a terrorist yesterday, but, today, I am admired by the very people who said I was one.” —Larry King Live, May 16, 2000
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[h=2]On poverty[/h]“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is people who have made poverty and tolerated poverty, and it is people who will overcome it. And 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.” —Ambassador of Conscience Award Acceptance Speech, November 01, 2006
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“While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.” —Ambassador of Conscience Award Acceptance Speech, November 01, 2006
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[h=2]On character[/h]“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. 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.” —Rivonia trial, 1964
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“If I had my time over I would do the same again. So would any man who dares call himself a man.” —Pretoria, South Africa 1962
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“Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished”
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“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”
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“It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.” —International AIDS conference, 2000
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“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”
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[h=2]On changing the world[/h]“Long speeches, the shaking of fists, the banging of tables and strongly worded resolutions out of touch with the objective conditions do not bring about mass action and can do a great deal of harm to the organisation and the struggle we serve.” —Presidential adress to the ANC Transvaal Congress, 1953
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“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
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“When the history of our times is written, will we be remembered as the generation that turned our backs in a moment of global crisis or will it be recorded that we did the right thing?” —Tromso, Norway, 2005
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“It is now in the hands of your generations to help rid the world of such suffering.” 90th Birthday Gathering, June 25, 2008


More at this weblink:

The wisdom of Nelson Mandela: quotes from the most inspiring leader of the 20th century – Quartz
 
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“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”

Hunter S Thompson
 
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”

Hunter S Thompson

He wrote some fantastic books.
 
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Richard Dawkins from his book "The God Delusion"

Tell us what you really think Richard!
 
Thoughts on incompetence

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence. - Napoleon Bonaparte

In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. - Laurence J. Peter

He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which. - Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

The English think incompetence is the same thing as sincerity. - Quentin Crisp

Incompetence - When you earnestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by doubling your efforts, there's no end to what you can't do. - Larry Kersten

In modern business it is not the crook who is to be feared most, it is the honest man who doesn't know what he is doing.
- William Wordsworth

Sometimes a majority only means that all the fools are on the same side.

To sit back hoping that someday, someway, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last--but eat you he will. - Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
 
In typical Joh Bjelke-Petersen language-mangling style, he uttered this gem when talking about some 'enemies' (which could have been just about anybody).

"They've cooked their own goose, now they have to lie in it"
 
"When written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity."

-- first popularised by John F Kennedy


This quote has been used several times in several orations since then.

Quite unfortunately, the statement is fallacious.
 
In typical Joh Bjelke-Petersen language-mangling style, he uttered this gem when talking about some 'enemies' (which could have been just about anybody).

"They've cooked their own goose, now they have to lie in it"

I was looking for my favourite Joh quote which was something like:

"You can't go on flogging a dead horse in the back paddock forever"

When I found:

"You can't sit on a fence, a barbed wire fence at that, and have one ear to the ground"

Of course this is all explained by another quote from the mad peanut farmer:

"I always talk in a way they can't understand"
 
I was looking for my favourite Joh quote which was something like:

"You can't go on flogging a dead horse in the back paddock forever"

When I found:

"You can't sit on a fence, a barbed wire fence at that, and have one ear to the ground"

Of course this is all explained by another quote from the mad peanut farmer:

"I always talk in a way they can't understand"


Another of Joh's gems I found in searching:

"The greatest thing that could happen to this State - and the Nation - is when we can get rid of the media. Then we could live in peace and tranquillity, and no one would know anything."


Quoted in the Spectator, London, 12 December 1987
 
I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I said, and…well, I assume it's what I said.


If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly.


Have a deputy and develop a successor. Don't be consumed by the job or you'll risk losing your balance. Keep your mooring lines to the outside world -- family, friends, neighbors, people out of government and people who may not agree with you.


- Donald Rumsfeld
 
I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I said, and…well, I assume it's what I said.


If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly.


Have a deputy and develop a successor. Don't be consumed by the job or you'll risk losing your balance. Keep your mooring lines to the outside world -- family, friends, neighbors, people out of government and people who may not agree with you.


- Donald Rumsfeld
Was he the one who knew what he didn't know?
 
"You have to be a cough to make it, and that's a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest coughs on earth."

- John Lennon
 
Quotes from Elbert Hubbard:

"Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience."
"There is no failure except in no longer trying."
"To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."
"Genius is only the power of making continuous efforts."
"Don't take life too seriously; you'll never get out of it alive."
 
'Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.'

- Louis Pasteur
 
I found these on a calendar over the weekend.

Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want, Jim Rohn, (this was February so I looked at the rest)

The secret to happiness is freedom... And the secret to freedom is courage. Thucydides


I'd love to know who came up with this gem! Not quite true.

John you are always going to be the half glass empty guy, I was watching one of those Qantas short TV programs that said, Don't worry, Be Happy it was to do with a positive attitude towards things.
 

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