Quotes to inspire and reflect

Running taught me valuable lessons. In cross-country competition, training counted more than intrinsic ability, and I could compensate for a lack of natural aptitude with diligence and discipline. I applied this in everything I did.

Like all Xhosa children, I acquired knowledge mainly through observation. We were meant to learn through imitation and emulation, not through questions. When I first visited the homes of whites, I was often dumbfounded by the number and nature of questions that children asked of their parents—and their parents’ unfailing willingness to answer them. In my household, questions were considered a nuisance; adults imparted information as they considered necessary.

Without education, your children can never really meet the challenges they will face. So it's very important to give children education and explain that they should play a role for their country.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Does anybody really think that they didn't get what they had because they didn't have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment?

The human body has an enormous capacity for adjusting to trying circumstances. I have found that one can bear the unbearable if one can keep one's spirit strong, even when one's body is being tested. Strong convictions are the secret of surviving deprivation. Your spirit can be full even when your stomach is empty.

Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.

Let your courage rise with danger.

Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it.

The brave man is not the one who has no fears, he is the one who triumphs over his fears.

When you are young and strong...you can stay alive on your hatred.

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

I was a young man who attempted to make up for his ignorance with militancy.

Resentment is a method of self-harm.

You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.

People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite... Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.

Quotes on the Long Walk to Freedom

I'm attracted to soccer's capacity for beauty. When well played, the game is a dance with a ball.

In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.

International football is the continuation of war by other means.

Rugby is a game for big buggers. If you’re not a big bugger, you get hurt. I wasn’t a big bugger but I was a fast bugger and therefore I avoided the big buggers.

In his life, a man can change wives, political parties or religions but he cannot change his favorite soccer team.

My horse was in the lead, coming down the home stretch, but the caddie fell off.

Remember, Lady Godiva put all she had on a horse and she lost her shirt!

Take care to sell your horse before he dies. The art of life is passing losses on.

No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle.

They say Princes learn no art truly, but the art of horsemanship. The reason is, the brave beast is no flatterer. He will throw a prince as soon as his groom.

If you could call the thing a horse. If it hadn't shown a flash of speed in the straight, it would have got mixed up with the next race.

The horse I bet on was so slow, the jockey kept a diary of the trip.

Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.

If an ass goes travelling, he'll not come back a horse.

If a horse is no good, trade him for a dog, then shoot the dog.

He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on.

Bookmakers are pickpockets who allow you to use your own hands.

I would horsewhip you if I had a horse.

The only decent people I ever saw at the racecourse were horses.

If I'm on the course and lightning starts, I get inside fast. If God wants to play through, let him.

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing.

I’m the best. I just haven’t played yet.

Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five.

Everyone should believe in something; I believe I’ll go fishing.

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.

If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize.

Fishing is a delusion entirely surrounded by liars in old clothes.

If you were surprised when Nixon resigned, just watch what happens when I whup Foreman’s behind!

I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong. They never called me nigger.

I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing, and the shadow won.

You can be free. You can be black. Look at me! I’m the Heavyweight Champion! Can’t nobody stop me.