For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
- Source
- Long Walk to Freedom, 1994
- Written
- 1994
About this quotation
Mandela wrote this near the end of his autobiography, where he reflects on what freedom asks of the people who have it. It is a sentence from the book itself, which is more than can be said for several lines often credited to him online.