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No record of Mandela saying 'it always seems impossible until it’s done'

This article is more than 5 years old

“It always seems impossible until it’s done,” tweeted the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation this week. It attributed the quote to former South African president Nelson Mandela

But there is no record of Mandela saying these words.

Earlier this week we took a look at quotes that are frequently misattributed to Mandela. The Nelson Mandela Foundation’s quotes database shows no results for this quote.

The database, which “serves as a source for accurate quotations by Mr Mandela”, is a searchable catalogue of addresses made by South Africa’s first black president.

Nelson Mandela Foundation senior researcher, Sahm Venter, told Africa Check that while the foundation doesn’t know where the quote originated from, they have no record of Mandela saying it

detailed investigation by the website Quote Investigator looked into the possible origins of the quote.– 09/12/2016

 

Additional reading

https://africacheck.org/2016/12/04/analysis-mistakes-madiba-even

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