This is a re-post from Colin Falconer’s blog of December 6, 2013. I was inspired enough to want to share it with you all.

Nelson Mandela was not a saint, by his own admission.

Nelson Mandela, apartheid, South Africa
source: Agência Brasil

His first wife divorced him because of his adulteries.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 but in the early sixties he advocated violent struggle.

And although he publicly preached forgiveness, he once let go and gave former South African President FW de Klerk a serve at the Nobel dinner after the award ceremony was over.

He was essentially human.

Yet he triumphed, personally and politically, against overwhelming odds.

Another man might have been left embittered and defeated after 27 years in prison. Mandela instead emerged victorious, a beacon to ‘sinners’ like himself.

There are things he said and did that forever changed the way I looked at the world, and at life. You might like to keep them on your wall, as a daily inspiration, as I have pinned them on mine.

1. 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.
2. There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

3. It always seems impossible until its done.
4. There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will
have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and
again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.

5. “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature
or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s
head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were
many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but
I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays
defeat and death.”
— from his autobiography: ‘The Long Walk to Freedom.’
6. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in
rising every time we fall.”

7. “Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp
enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed
with the hope that he will rise even in the end.”
— From a letter to Winnie Mandela, 1975
8. “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill
your enemies.”

9. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I
fell down and got back up again.”
10. “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my
freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind,
I’d still be in prison.”

11. I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who
keeps on trying.”
12. One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that
until I changed myself, I could not change others.”

13. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”
14. Nothing is black or white.”

15. “Quitting is leading too.”
16. I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope.”

Hamba Kahle, Madibe. Thank you for a life of such great inspiration.
“Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he
considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest
in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore,
why I will sleep for the eternity.”

This is not my “Homeless in Tampa Chronicles” but a blog I started and have found most useful for all of my “next door” happenings. My own blog is on Blogger, and many of you are on Word Press. If you follow me on “Homeless. . .” you probably know about this, but I seem to pick up a good bit of traffic here and I wanted to do honor to a great man.

This is a re-post from Colin Falconer’s wonderful blog and it deserves a read and a re-read and should be put on walls and read repeatedly. Some curmudgeon commented that these may not have all been Mr. Mandela’s quotes. That may be, however, the man lived what he talked about and was just as honest about his failures as a man, as he was humble about his successes. It’s usually the other way around.

Mr. Mandela was one of those human beings who made me happy about being part of the human race; Muhammad Ali is another one, and now, Vitali Klitschko, the Boxing Heavyweight Champion of the World, Ukrainian by birth, a twin and the holder of a PhD in Sports Medicine along with his brother, Vladimir Klitschko. Although they reside in Germany, Vitali has taken up Ukraine’s cause for freedom, to ally herself with the EU and get out from under Vladimir Putin’s sphere of influence. Klitschko is a member of the Ukrainian parliament, where the Leader is opposed to the President; one of Putin’s cronies.

It seems almost emblematic that when oppression exists, an unlikely champion arises. Ali made history, and will forever be remembered for his statement “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong”. And now another. So, in the spirit of freedom fighters and people who follow their hearts, I beg you to read and keep Mr. Mandela’s statements close to your heart. He was a world-shaker and made life better for so many people. We can do the same, even if it is one person at a time. Peace out.