Nelson Mandela Quotes

Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the struggle for equal rights.

There's no question in my mind but that rights are never won unless people are willing to fight for them.

Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.

If there is no struggle, there is no progress....This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

The bottom line is that you only have the rights you fight for.

My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.

You know, my father was a great encouragement for me because he spoke out for women's rights, he spoke out for girl's education. And at that time I said that why should I wait for someone else, why should I be looking to the government, to the army that they would help us? Why don't I raise my voice, why don't we speak up for our rights?

Lost rights are never regained by appeals to the conscience of the usurpers, but by relentless struggle....goa ts are used for sacrificial offerings and not lions.

Look at what I've done my entire life. I have been working on behalf of civil rights, women's rights, human rights for years and I know how challenging it is to change our political system and I have the highest regard for those who have put themselves on the line.

The purpose of social work should not be to distribute favours, but to restore rights.

I'm going to fight for human rights, whether I do it silently behind the scenes or vocally so that I get locked up. I can't just sit back; it's not in my nature. I can't sit back and blindly ignore it, and I won't.

In less than a century we experienced great movement. The youth movement! The labor movement! The civil rights movement! The peace movement! The solidarity movement! The women's movement! The disability movement! The disarmament movement! The gay rights movement! The environmental movement! Movement! Transformation! Is there any reason to believe we are done?

This is Not Another Revolution. This is a Civil Rights Movement

No one who passively endures an injustice against himself has the material in him to struggle for the rights of others. The one who patiently forbears becomes an accessory to the injustice done to others. He who resists the injustice which he himself meets can open up the way to a higher right for others.

Create power for the powerless.

Everything hinges on education. Without it, you can't advocate for proper health care, for housing, for a civil rights bill that ensures your rights.

Champion of the People’s Rights

Rights are to be taken, not requested; seized, not begged for.

It is important to me to keep fighting for the rights of those who cannot.

Rich or poor, we all need organizations that can represent us; we all need modes of collective action when individual action does not yield justice.

I stand up for all rights.

I picked up a camera because it was my choice of weapons against what I hated most about the universe: racism, intolerance, poverty.

A Church that has lost its voice for justice is a Church that has lost its relevance in the world.

There's still injustice happening in my world. I sing my songs at concerts and I'm so grateful that the people are ready to hear them.

The hope of remaking the world is indispensable in the struggle of oppressed men and women.