Joe Matthews - Mandela always came forward and presented himself as

Mandela always came forward and presented himself as a leading figure in the ANC. He ignored office as the criterion of leadership and very often he did and said things which should have been said by those who held office. Yet, he would say it. It was perhaps a kind of supreme confidence. I don't know if one could call it arrogance, but he was very confident, maybe over confident in himself. He was regarded as fearless. It was known that he was fearless as a person. He was always ready to volunteer to be the first to do something, anything that had to be done, Mandela would volunteer to do it.

Topics

Citations

Joe Matthews, President, South African Youth League, Secretary to Nelson Mandela, Interview, PBS Frontline

Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations

Related Quotes

Sanjay Kumar

I'm equally comfortable in getting out there and taking a stand when I have to take a stand.

Christian Nestell Bovee

We make way for the man who boldly pushes past us.

Michelle Bachelet

I took a gamble to exercise leadership without losing my feminine nature.

Lyndsy Fonseca

Guys need to know when to take charge.

John Kenneth Galbraith

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.

Frank S. Nugent

Never apologize, mister. It's a sign of weakness.

Orson Welles

Nobody who takes on anything big and tough can afford to be modest.

Theodore Roosevelt

I don’t care how honest a man is. If he is timid, he is no good.

Otis Singletary

A leader with no doubts leads badly.

See {638715} for an example of his quotation.

Masai Ujiri

Manute Bol was one of the guys who taught me to be bold. To be fierce. To speak intelligently, and speak like you belong.

Samuel Johnson

It may be no less dangerous to claim, on certain occasions, too little than too much. There is something captivating in spirit and intrepidity, to which we often yield as to a resistless power; nor can we often yield as to a resistless power; nor can he reasonably expect the confidence of others who too apparently distrusts himself.

Barry Goldwater

I have the unmitigated gall to think that I could lead men anywhere, business, politics or combat.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Power is given only to him who dares to stoop and take it ... one must have the courage to dare.

Carl von Clausewitz

Boldness becomes rarer, the higher the rank.

Alan Alda

Nothing important was ever accomplished without chutzpah. Columbus had chutzpah. The signers of the Declaration of Independence had chutzpah. Don't ever aim doubt at yourself. Laugh at yourself, but don't doubt yourself.

Tama Janowitz

I think powerful women don't care whether or not they're liked.

Tupac Shakur

There's nobody in the business strong enough to scare me.

Mr. T

I am a tough guy.

Charles Bronson

I am not a Caspar Milquetoast, but most of the time, I'm mild. I can afford to be because I don't have the fears that most men have about masculinity or macho-ness.