Former President Bill Clinton Recalls Long-Lasting Friendship With Mandela Another former president is remembering mandela today. President bill clinton, who talked with the anchor of this week, george stephanopoulos. He once told me that he lived on hatred, when he went into prison. He said after 11 years he realized that they had taken about everything they could take from him except his mind and heart. He said, I realized that those are things you have to give away, and I decided not to give them away. Mahatma gandhi, abe lincoln, george washington. He belongs in that group. He does. You know, in my lifetime, gandhi and mandela, in no small measure, because of their willingness to give up the comforts of ordinary life, they symbolize the world we'd all like to live in, if we could just be a little bigger, if we could be a little more like them. President clinton with george stephanopoulos, president clinton once asked mandela if he still hated his oppressors, mandela answered, nope, they had me 27 years in prison, if i hated them when I walked out the door, they would still have me.