JOHANNESBURG - Nelson Mandela urged the world not to view him as a saint, saying he also suffered "weaknesses, errors and indiscretions," in an excerpt from a new book published in South Africa's Sunday Times.

"Conversations with Myself", a compilation of personal papers and recordings, goes on sale worldwide on Tuesday purporting to show the private life of South Africa's first black president.

"As a young man, I combined all the weaknesses, errors and indiscretions of a country boy, whose range of vision and experience was influenced mainly by events in the area in which I grew up and the colleges to which I was sent," he wrote.

"I relied on arrogance to hide my weaknesses," he added.

"One issue that deeply worried me in prison was the false image I unwittingly projected to the outside world; of being regarded as a saint," said the Nobel Peace Prize winner, aged 92.

"I never was one, even on the basis of the earthly definition of a saint as a sinner who keeps trying."

Jailed for 27 years by the country's white-minority government for resisting apartheid rule, Mandela was released in 1990 and led negotiations with the government that culminated in his election as the country's first black president in 1994.

He stepped down in 1999, after serving one term in office. His public appearances have become rare since retiring from public life in 2004.