Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts…

Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.

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Refusing to bargain for freedom after 21 years in prison, as quoted in TIME (25 February 1985)

Other Nelson Mandela Quotes

The victory of democracy in South Africa is the common achievement of all humanity. - View Quote Details on The victory of democracy in South Africa is the common…
Prison itself is a tremendous education in the need for patience and perseverance. It is above all a test of one’s commitment. - View Quote Details on Prison itself is a tremendous education in the need for…
We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative peace. We commit ourselves to the construction of a complete, just and lasting peace.
We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity — a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world. - View Quote Details on We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in…
The sight of wounded and whipped Zulus, mercilessly abandoned by their British persecutors, so appalled him that he turned full circle from his admiration for all things British to celebrating the indigenous and ethnic. He resuscitated the culture of the colonized and the fullness of Indian resistance against the British; he revived Indian handicrafts and made these into an economic weapon against the colonizer in his call for swadeshi — the use of one’s own and the boycott of the oppressor’s products, which deprive the people of their skills and their capital. - View Quote Details on The sight of wounded and whipped Zulus, mercilessly abandoned by…
Gandhi arrived in South Africa in 1893 at the age of 23. Within a week he collided head on with racism. His immediate response was to flee the country that so degraded people of color, but then his inner resilience overpowered him with a sense of mission, and he stayed to redeem the dignity of the racially exploited, to pave the way for the liberation of the colonized the world over and to develop a blueprint for a new social order.
He left 21 years later, a near maha atma (great soul). There is no doubt in my mind that by the time he was violently removed from our world, he had transited into that state.
He was no ordinary leader. There are those who believe he was divinely inspired, and it is difficult not to believe with them. He dared to exhort nonviolence in a time when the violence of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had exploded on us; he exhorted morality when science, technology and the capitalist order had made it redundant; he replaced self-interest with group interest without minimizing the importance of self. In fact, the interdependence of the social and the personal is at the heart of his philosophy. He seeks the simultaneous and interactive development of the moral person and the moral society. - View Quote Details on Gandhi arrived in South Africa in 1893 at the age…
The authorities liked to say that we received a balanced diet; it was indeed balanced — between the unpalatable and the inedible. - View Quote Details on The authorities liked to say that we received a balanced…
The people of South Africa have spoken in these elections. They want change! And change is what they will get. Our plan is to create jobs, promote peace and reconciliation, and to guarantee freedom for all South Africans. - View Quote Details on The people of South Africa have spoken in these elections…
Far from the rough and tumble of the politics of our own country. I would like to take this opportunity to join the Norwegian Nobel Committee and pay tribute to my joint laureate. Mr. F.W. de Klerk.
He had the courage to admit that a terrible wrong had been done to our country and people through the imposition of the system of apartheid.
He had the foresight to understand and accept that all the people of South Africa must through negotiations and as equal participants in the process, together determine what they want to make of their future. - View Quote Details on Far from the rough and tumble of the politics of…
We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could be free.
Their dreams have become reality. Freedom is their reward. - View Quote Details on We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines…
I watched, along with all of you, as the tens of thousands of our people stood patiently in long queues for many hours. Some sleeping on the open ground overnight waiting to cast this momentous vote. - View Quote Details on I watched, along with all of you, as the tens…