Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.

More from Nelson Mandela

• If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
• Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.
• Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation.
• There is nothing like returing to a place that remains unchanged to find how you yourself have altered.
• A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves.
• It won’t be an easy journey. It’ll be long, and arduous. But I promise you one thing: on the memory of those lying here before you, we shall find it, and Earth shall become our new home. So say we all!