The legacy of Nelson Mandela all too easily overshadows the reality of the person he was. At the end of the day, he was a simple man who saw the wrong in the world, and committed himself to undoing it by any means.

Always humble, Madiba would be the first to point out his own flaws.

“I am not a saint,” he said, “unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

Here are 10 of his other greatest quotes:

I was made, by the law, a criminal, not because of what I had done, but because of what I stood for, because of what I thought, because of my conscience.

(Statement during trial, 1962)

I can only say that I felt morally obliged to do what I did.

(At the opening of his trial, April 20, 1964)

Social equality is the only basis of human happiness.

(A letter written on August 1, 1970)

I came to accept that I have no right whatsoever to judge others in terms of my own customs.

(From his unpublished autobiographical manuscript, 1975)

Great anger and violence can never build a nation. We are striving to proceed in a manner and towards a result, which will ensure that all our people, both black and white, emerge as victors.

(Speech to European Parliament, 1990)

We are fighting for a society where people will cease thinking in terms of colour.

(March 8, 1993)

 When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace.

(Interview for Mandela, 1994)

Reconciliation means working together to correct the legacy of past injustice.

(December 16, 1995)

I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.

(From Long Walk to Freedom, 1995)

It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.

(South Africa, July 14, 2000)

[Source : The Daily Beast]