People Who Changed The World

Winston Churchill

2013-02-07T07:02:00.000-08:00

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, eldest son of Randolph Churchill and Jennie Jerome, was born on 30th November, 1874 in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock. During his childhood, Churchill proved to be an independent and rebellious student, he grew up to become a British politician, an author, and a painter. Churchill was known for his refusal to consider defeat to Hitler whose plan was to control Europe "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end", he was known also for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Hitler gained power in Germany in 1933, him and the Nazi Party wanted to take over Europe and defeat France and Britain.

He held many political positions, including being Prime Minister twice (1940–45 and 1951–55).

Churchill was particularly noted for the radio broadcasts he took part in and the speeches and lectures he gave, in 1931, he held a lecture tour around the United States. He was a writer and received the Nobel Prize in Literature and was considered an Honorary Citizen of the USA. Winston Churchill is widely considered as being one of the most influential characters in British history.

In his own words: "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." ... "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." ... Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." ... "You ask what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory however long and hard the road may be. For without victory there is no survival."

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Before the start of world war one, he married Clementine, on 12 September 1908. Clementine is the daughter of Sir Henry Hozier and Lady Blanche.

Moreover, Churchill had made several changes to the prison system, he had added the concerts program for prisoners and had worked to set up a special after-care associations system to keep helping convicts after they had served their imprisonment time.

He took some time off the politics and wrote several books over the years, including: The Story of the Malakand Field Force(1898), The River War (1899) [both were written while he was still in the army], Savrola (1900), Lord Randolph Churchill (1906) [the biography of his father], The World Crisis (1923-29 a 4 volumes of the World War One and 6 volumes of the World War Two that were published between 1948 and 1953/54), The Dawn of Liberation (1945), and Victory (1946).

During the first few months of 1941, Winston had a small heart attack, on a visit to the USA. In 1943, the health problem seemed to get bigger (he had another heart attack). In 1946, on another visit to the USA, he made his famous Iron Curtain speech at Fulton, Missouri. 7 years later, in June 1953, he suffered from a series of strokes while at his office. Then at the age of 90, on January 24th 1965, Churchill died from the effects of a sever stroke from which he suffered 9 days earlier.

Nelson Mandela

2013-02-07T05:15:00.002-08:00

Nelson Mandela has achieved his dream of equality for all South Africans, against overwhelming odds. His goals were to cut racism, poverty and inequality.

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. "

Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Transkei, a small South African village to the name Rolihlahla, his mother is Nonqaphi Nosekeni and his father Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela who was "Chief Henry Mandela" of the Tembu Tribe. At the age of 7, he began his British Education, and his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him the name Nelson. After his father died in 1927 he was sent to Mqhekezweni where he grew his leadership skills attending counselings and tribe meetings. He was then sent to get his high education of the LLB at the University of Witwatersrand. For 20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful, non-violent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies.

He joined the ANC, becoming one of the founders of its Youth League, he was later on elected president of the Transvaal ANC branch and so on used to oversee the Congress of the People. Working as a lawyer, ( in August 1952 he and Oliver Tambo opened the first black law firm in South Africa, called 'Mandela and Tambo'), he was repeatedly arrested along with others for engaging in activities against the government.

As mentioned on nelson mandela's website, on 11 January 1962 using the adopted name David Motsamayi, Nelson Mandela left South Africa secretly. He traveled around Africa and visited England to gain support for the armed struggle. He received military training in Morocco and Ethiopia and returned to South Africa in July 1962. He was arrested in a police roadblock outside Howick on 5 August while returning from KwaZulu-Natal where he briefed ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli about his trip. He was charged with leaving the country illegally and inciting workers to strike.

While facing the death penalty, his words to the court at the end of his famous ‘Speech from the Dock’ on 20 April 1964 became immortalized:
“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

The next day, him and other protesters were sentenced to life imprisonment. During his time in, his mother died in 1968, the next year his oldest son passed away too. Nelson was not allowed to attend the funerals.

On Sunday 11 February 1990, Mendela was resealed from jail, that was about nine days after the ANC was unbanned. During his years in, he had rejected three conditional offers of release. Nelson Mandela's reputation grew hugely. He was widely known as a powerful leader in South Africa. He, more than once, refused to compromise his political position and opinion for his freedom.

Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990 from jail. After his release, he went back to working on the goals he had set up years ago. Mendela was elected President of South Africa, from 1994 to 1999, it was for the first time, a fully representative, multiracial election.

Martin Luther King

2013-02-07T02:23:00.002-08:00

A non violent protester who is probably number one on the 'people who made a difference' list, an inspirational speaker, a human rights activist and a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

" I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood"

Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, USA on 15 January 1929 to the name Michael but later on he changed it to Martin in honor of Martin Luther, a German Protestant religious leader. Martin had one older sister, and a younger brother. The 3 children grew up in a secure and loving environment, his family was engaged in the African-American baptist church, his father along with his grandfather were both pastors. He fought for racial equality in the USA. He graduated from Morehouse College in his hometown Atlanta, then went to Boston University where he came to realize the vast inequality between white and black people in America. Later on in his twenties, 24 to be specific, he married Coretta Scott, and became a priest, following the family's road, at a church in Montgomery, Alabama.

On 5 December 1955, Rosa Parks another human rights activist, started an Alabama Bus Boycott and King promoted and organised a strike where colored people stopped using the city buses.. At that time, the priority in those buses was for the whites, black people had to go sit at the back of the bus.

A picture of both Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks together, source Wikimedia Commons

After that incident, Martin Luther King became an inspirational speaker, influenced by Gandhi's non violent movements.. he, too, wanted to make a change. He had the capacity to move and change the mentality of his listener, he was always respectful and on point. King also was one of the founders of (SCLC), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. His speeches were mainly about living respectfully hand in hand, the Time Magazine even named him the man of the year in 1963, and a year after that (at the age of thirty-five) he was given the Nobel Peace Prize of $54,123 for his hard work for the racial equality and social justice cause, along with other honors. King gave lectures all over the United States on race-related problems.

He is well known for his 'I have a dream speech' by which we started this blog (King made that speech on a March on Washington which he organised in 1963), and his 'I've been to the mountain top' speech. In fact, that was his last one, Martin Luther King was assassinated the day after that while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4th 1968. King is a national icon in the history of American progressivism. King had an immense impact on race relations in the United States, a memorial statue on the National Mall was opened to the public in 2011.

Letting Go..

2012-10-25T14:15:00.003-07:00

Love and respect yourself enough to let them go..

Holding on..

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Don't hold on because you think there will be no one else, there will always be someone else. You've got to believe you're worth more than being repeatedly hurt by someone who doesn't really care, believe that someone will see what you are really worth and treat you the way you should be treated.

Be Yourself

2012-10-24T11:43:00.003-07:00

All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself.

Ralph Ellison

Message to the ex

2012-10-24T07:18:00.004-07:00

Quotes that will make you say 'ahaa'

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Gut Feeling

2012-08-31T13:29:00.001-07:00

Your intuition might be right and it could save you the waste of time and effort, but it might not be true as well and that could lead to the loss of great things. You see every move you make is risky, but if you don't do it, you'll never be able to accomplish new things, open new doors, learn lessons if it's the case. Life is risky, and it makes you stronger every day. Don't be afraid of taking chances, opportunities are everywhere. Just remember that.

Forgiving

2012-08-31T13:13:00.003-07:00

This was probably the worst year for me, I was lied to, cheated on and repeatedly disrespected by very close people. And it's hard to pretend to be happy while you're in pain, I know. But when you accept that what has changed is never going back to how it used to be, when you admit that you were wrong thinking that they won't hurt you just because they said so, when you come to understand that life is most of the time unfair to you.. When you stop being angry at life and people, you finally start seeing the beauty that is surrounding you. Forgive..not because you're naive, but because you don't want the past to follow you anymore. LET GO and be happy.

Perfect Relationship

2012-08-30T04:46:00.002-07:00

No one is ever perfect, but two can be perfect together when they choose to overcome everything, when they don't let anything or anyone come between them, when they enjoy their similarities and respect their differences.. That's what I need in my life, I need it badly.

Making Mistakes Quotes

2012-08-29T02:57:00.000-07:00

We've all done things we're not proud of, compromised ourselves to please people we loved, neglected what we desire over what others want, loved the wrong ones just because they said all the right things maybe, let people hurt over and over again without saying anything or trying to do the right thing and end it. We all make mistakes, but mistakes should be made only once, we must learn from them so that we won't have to deal with the same disappointment and feel the same pain and hurt ever again. No one deserves that..

More quotes on making mistakes:

Don't be afraid to make mistakes, to stumble and fall because most of the time the greatest rewards come from doing the things that scare us the most. Maybe you'll get everything you wished for. Maybe you'll get more than you ever could have imagined. Who knows where life could take you. The road is long and in the end the journey is the destination.
Unknown Author

I was born to make mistakes, not to fake perfection.
Drake

Wisdom does not come with age, it comes with mistakes made.
Joshua Neal Hartry

We all make mistakes, hurt and disappoint people, get hurt and get disappointed. Don't get caught up in the past, learn from it. Allow yourself to grow, to smile and to be happy. Isn't it lovely to look in the mirror and see a honest person, your best friend, the one you can always count on. Make sure you are. Love yourself. With a big fire in your heart, you can set other hearts on fire. Be gentle, kind, respectful, sincere. If you carry that out, you might inspire others with that attitude.
Unknown

Mistakes are often made to learn a lesson; but if you keep making the same mistake; what lesson have you learned? You cant get through the book of life if you're always stuck on the same page.
Unknown

It takes a real man to admit he made a mistake. But an even better man to try and make things right again.
Unknown Author

With any loss, you want to try to regroup and learn from mistakes
Elena Leon

They battle me pretty well. They always seem to have something going against me and when I make a mistake, they capitalize on it. That's what they're supposed to do.
Matt Clement

The right one

2012-08-29T02:45:00.002-07:00

THE ONE WHO WILL NEVER LEAVE, NO MATTER HOW HARD THINGS GET.

Real Men/Women Quotes

2012-08-29T02:36:00.001-07:00

Take notes people.. In order to have a healthy relationship you have to follow this. That's something I learned recently. Appreciate your partner and never take them for granted if you want your relationship to last.

More quotes:

A real woman can do it all by herself, but a real man won't let her.
Unknown

Real men stay faithful. They don't have time to look for other women because they're too busy looking for new ways to love their own.
Drake

A grown man is so secure with himself he will go flip burgers to make sure his baby can eat.
Madea

A man who treats his woman like a princess is proof that he has been raised by a queen.
Wiz Khalifa

A REAL man, the kind of man a woman wants to give her life to, is one who will respect her dignity, who will honor her like the valuable treasure she is. A REAL man will not attempt to rip her precious pearl from it's protective shell, or persuade her with charm to give away her treasure prematurely, but he will wait patiently until she willingly gives him the prize of her heart. A REAL man will cherish and care for that prize forever.
Leslie Ludy

A real man gives up one night stands for a woman he can't stand one night without.
Unknown

Any fool can be a Father, but it takes a real man to be a Daddy!
Philip Whitmore Snr

Kindness

2012-08-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

If only more people lived by this quote, our world would be so much better.

Trust and relationships

2012-08-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

We've all been victims of our loving heart, we overlook some things and find out later that it was a mistake. We love too much, trust blindly and end up getting hurt way too deep. Again that's life, we all have to go through this at some point of our lives, but we have to learn in order not to make the same mistake again.

Forgiveness and letting go

2012-08-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

It's hard to forget the pain someone caused us, and it's even harder when you see them happy while you're hurting badly and it's all because of them. The thing is, not everyone is going to leave a good memory in our mind, we'll meet in life a lot of people that will scar us deeply, but we have to deal with it - the sooner the better - we should thank them for the lesson and make sure it's well learned. Everyone should make peace with their past and the people who hurt them, to be able to continue their lives with a smile on their faces.

Stay strong

2012-08-20T10:42:00.002-07:00

Choose wisely

2012-08-20T10:40:00.001-07:00

We often fall for those who we know we can't have, I know everyone have been there at least once before. The question is why? Why do we like to suffer so much, why putting ourselves in a situation we know we can't get out of happy!

Key/Crazy

2012-08-20T10:36:00.002-07:00

That's something I've learned recently, it's all about your attitude towards things and others. And once you decide to stop caring, believe me a lot can change, and you'll be living a much happier life!

Being there for someone Quotes

2012-08-20T10:16:00.001-07:00

Friends.

2012-08-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

That's nothing but the truth, real friends are so hard to find these days where money rules and people look for benefits in everything they do. So take your time while choosing your friends.

Life is worth the struggle

2012-08-17T03:12:00.000-07:00

When you're sad or in love, you seem to be kind of blinded, you don't see things clearly. At least that's what keeps happening to me. You lose things or people, and gain others along the road. But you have to believe that when you have to let go of something good, it's because something much better is about to happen.

"Bullsh*t free"

2012-08-17T02:50:00.001-07:00

No matter how busy someone might be, they can always find time for a phone call or even a message to remind you how important you are to them. If that's not happening, chances are you're not that important to them as they are to you. That's something to think about.

Needing love

2012-08-17T02:31:00.000-07:00

NEVER take for granted someone who stood by your side during both the good and the bad, appreciate those who accepted both your positive and negative side, cherished the good and helped you fix the bad without changing you into someone that you're not!