- “One hundred years ago, Madiba was born in the village of Mvezo. There was no reason to believe that a young black boy at this time, in this place, could in any way alter history.”
- “But through his sacrifice and unwavering leadership and, perhaps most of all, through his moral example, Mandela and the movement he led would come to signify something larger – the universal aspirations of dispossessed people, their hopes for a better life, the possibility of a moral transformation in the conduct of human affairs.”
- “I believe in Nelson Mandela’s vision. I believe in a vision shared by Gandhi and King and Abraham Lincoln. I believe in a vision of equality and justice and freedom and multi-racial democracy, built on the premise that all people are created equal, and they’re endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. And I believe that a world governed by such principles is possible and that it can achieve more peace and more cooperation in pursuit of a common good.”
- “History shows how easily people can be convinced to turn on those who look different or worship God in a different way. So if we’re truly to continue Madiba’s long walk towards freedom, we’re going to have to work harder and we’re going to have to be smarter.”
- “Embracing our common humanity does not mean that we have to abandon our unique ethnic and national and religious identities.”
- “We have to stop pretending that countries that just hold an election where sometimes the winner somehow magically gets 90 percent of the vote because all the opposition is locked up – or can’t get on TV, is a democracy.”
- “Things may go backwards for a while, but ultimately, right makes might, not the other way around, ultimately, the better story can win out.”
- “Love comes more naturally to the human heart, let’s remember that truth. Let’s see it as our North Star, let’s be joyful in our struggle to make that truth manifest here on earth so that in 100 years from now, future generations will look back and say, ‘they kept the march going, that’s why we live under new banners of freedom.”
- “Every generation has the opportunity to remake the world. Mandela said, [Young people are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom.] Now is a good time to be aroused. Now is a good time to be fired up.”
- “So, young people, who are in the audience, who are listening, my message to you is simple, keep believing, keep marching, keep building, keep raising your voice.”