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"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."

— Nelson Mandela

Resentment Is Like Drinking Poison And

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

— Nelson Mandela
forgiveness peace resentment

About this quote

Widely attributed to Nelson Mandela, but Quote Investigator traces the metaphor to earlier sources: a 1980 book by Bert Ghezzi and a 1943 editorial in The Christian Science Monitor, with the Mandela attribution appearing only in 2002 via a psychologist's interview in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. The sentiment resonated deeply with Mandela's public persona of reconciliation, which is likely how it became attached to his name, but no primary source confirming he said it has been found.

Source

Attributed, widely quoted

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
— Nelson Mandela
It always seems impossible until it's done.
— Nelson Mandela
No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. 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.
— Nelson Mandela
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