In nearly seven decades spent fighting for freedom and equality, Nelson Mandela inspired and challenged the world to stand up for others. As word of Mandela’s death spread, current and former presidents, athletes and entertainers, and people around the world spoke about the life and legacy of the former South African leader.

Some knew Mandela personally while many only knew him from afar, but they shared how they drew inspiration from his strength and looked to live his message of continuing the struggle against social injustice and for human rights.

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“He no longer belongs to us. He belongs to the ages,” said President Barack Obama, who shares with Mandela the distinction of being his nation’s first black president.

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Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said the world had lost “a visionary leader, a courageous voice for justice and a clear moral compass.”

“God was so good to us in South Africa by giving us Nelson Mandela to be our president at a crucial moment in our history,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu said. “He inspired us to walk the path of forgiveness and reconciliation and so South Africa did not go up in flames.”

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For Chinese rights activists, Mandela’s death served as a reminder that one of their own symbols of freedom, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, remained imprisoned by Chinese authorities. “This moment magnifies how evil the current regime is,” Beijing activist Hu Jia said.

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“As we remember his triumphs, let us, in his memory, not just reflect on how far we’ve come, but on how far we have to go,” said the U.S. actor Morgan Freeman, who portrayed Mandela in the 2009 film, “Invictus.”

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Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose efforts to open up his country helped lead to the end of the Cold War, said Mandela “told me several times that our perestroika in the USSR had helped his country a lot to get rid of apartheid.”

“He did a lot for humankind, and memory of him will live not only in his country, but across the world,” Gorbachev said.