Together we have travelled a long road to be where we are today. This has been a road of struggle against colonial and apartheid oppression.
Thabo MbekiRead
Gloom and despondency have never defeated adversity. Trying times need courage and resilience. Our strength as a people is not tested during the best of times.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Adversity cannot be overcome by weakness; it requires courage and resilience.
This quote emphasizes that true strength is revealed not in moments of ease, but during challenging times. Gloom and despair do not conquer tough situations; instead, the ability to face difficulties with courage and resilience is what defines our strength as individuals and communities.
Themes
CourageResilienceAdversityStrengthChallenge
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about overcoming obstacles, one might quote this to inspire resilience.
More from Thabo Mbeki
All quotes →A global human society, characterised by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, is unsustainable
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Many of our own people here in this country do not ask about computers, telephones and television sets. They ask - when will we get a road to our village.
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South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.
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Our experience over the last 20 years has shown that indeed people must themselves become their own liberators. You cannot wait for somebody else to come and rescue you.
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As we mourn President Mandela’s passing we must ask ourselves the fundamental question - what shall we do to respond to the tasks of building a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa, a people-centred society free of hunger, poverty, disease and inequality, as well as Africa’s renaissance, to whose attainment President Nelson Mandela dedicated his whole life?
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