Anti-apartheid hero and former South African president Nelson Mandela never said this. The phrase originated with Marianne Williamson, the New Age guru and erstwhile 2020 presidential candidate. According to Quote Investigator, the phrase first appeared in chapter seven of Williamson’s 1992 bestseller, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles.
The full quote is: “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 most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? 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 are all meant to shine, as children do.”
Some people find the lines inspiring, but there’s no connection with Mandela. In fact, it’s not quite clear how the statesman was given credit, except that people think it’s the kind of thing he might have said.
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