Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid leader, dies at 95

Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid leader, dies at 95

Former South African President Nelson Mandela has died at age 95 of complications from a recurring lung infection.

The anti-apartheid leader and Nobel laureate was a beloved figure around the world, a symbol of reconciliation from a country with a brutal history of racism.

Born Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela in Transkei, South Africa, on July 18, 1918, he was one of the world's most revered statesmen and revolutionaries who led the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

A qualified lawyer from the University College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand, Mandela served as the president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. Since his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment,

Mandela has been at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world. As president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, he was instrumental in moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He is revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality.

Some of his quotes.
One of the most difficult things is not to change society--but to change yourself.
--Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa  

It enables me to go to bed with an enriching feeling in my soul and the belief that I am changing myself.
--Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa 

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that frightens us. Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  --Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, inaugural address, written by Marianne Williamson  

It enables me to go to bed with an enriching feeling in my soul and the belief that I am changing myself.
--Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa