We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.
Nelson MandelaRead
Continuously, we have to fight to defeat the primitive tendency towards the glorification of arms, the adulation of force, born of the illusion that injustice can be perpetuated by the capacity to kill, or that disputes are necessarily best resolved by resort to violent means.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the need to resist the glorification of violence and force in resolving disputes.
Nelson Mandela's quote highlights the importance of understanding that using violence and force is not a legitimate solution to conflicts or injustice. It calls for a continuous effort to reject the idea that power and the capacity to harm others can dictate moral or political outcomes, urging people to seek peaceful and just resolutions instead.
In practice
In a speech about promoting peace, one might reference Mandela's quote to emphasize the importance of nonviolent conflict resolution.
We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.
What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.
The past is a rich resource on which we can draw in order to make decisions for the future, but it does not dictate our choices. We should look back at the past and select what is good, and leave behind what is bad.
We signal that good can be achieved amongst human beings who are prepared to trust, prepared to believe in the goodness of people.
After one has been in prison, it is the small things that one appreciates: being able to take a walk whenever one wants, going into a shop and buying a newspaper, speaking or choosing to remain silent. The simple act of being able to control one's person.
I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses.
What do we say to the Lord of Death?" "Not today.
Fear and God do not occupy the same space.
Even if I died in the service of the nation, I would be proud of it. Every drop of my blood... will contribute to the growth of this nation and to make it strong and dynamic.
I have nothing to hide. I enjoy being myself. I'm not going to change who I am just because it's Halloween.
You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lines. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I'll rise.
Those of us who submitted or surrendered our ideas and dreams and identities to the 'leaders' must take back our rights, our identities, our responsibilities.
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