QuoteProject
Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom. Of course the task will not be easy. But not to do this would be a crime against humanity, against which I ask all humanity now to rise up.
Nelson Mandela
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Every generation has the potential to achieve greatness, and it's our responsibility to embrace that challenge.

In this quote, Nelson Mandela emphasizes the importance of each generation stepping up to make a significant impact on the world. He calls for individuals to recognize their potential for greatness and to take action, despite the challenges they may face. The message reinforces the idea that not striving for greatness is a disservice to humanity, urging collective action for positive change.

Themes

GreatnessGenerationActionHumanityInspiration

In practice

Example use cases

Motivating a youth group to engage in community service.

More from Nelson Mandela

We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.
Nelson MandelaRead
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.
Nelson MandelaRead
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.
Nelson MandelaRead
We signal that good can be achieved amongst human beings who are prepared to trust, prepared to believe in the goodness of people.
Nelson MandelaRead
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.
Nelson MandelaRead
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.
Nelson MandelaRead

Similar quotes

O that my tongue were in the thunder's mouth! Then with passion would I shake the world.
William ShakespeareRead
Over the years, I had nurtured the hope to be able to fly; to handle a machine as it rose higher and higher in the stratosphere was my dearest dream.
A. P. J. Abdul KalamRead
I intend to bring you strength, joy, courage, perspicacity, defiance.
Andre GideRead
If you’re alive, you can’t be bored in San Francisco. If you’re not alive, San Francisco will bring you to life.
William SaroyanRead
But again and again, we should reflect back to the darkness of the cocoon. In order to inspire ourselves forward, we must look back to see the contrast with the place we came from. You see, we cannot reject the world of the cocoon - which out which we may create a new cocoon. When we see the suffering that occured in the old cocoon, that inspires us to go forward in our journey of warriorship. It is a journey that is unfolding within us.
Chogyam TrungpaRead
O beautiful for spacious skies, . . . O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine, Til all success be nobleness And every gain divine!
Katharine Lee BatesRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.