Desmond Tutu Quotes

“The Dead Sea in the Middle East receives fresh water, but it has no outlet, so it doesn’t pass the water out. It receives beautiful water from the rivers, and the water goes dank. I mean, it just goes bad. And that’s why it is the Dead Sea. It receives and does not give. In the end generosity is the best way of becoming more, more, and more joyful.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Forgiving is not forgetting; its actually remembering–remembering and not using your right to hit back. Its a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you dont want to repeat what happened.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said “Let us pray.” We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognizing the humanity in others.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew… Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful… and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Dear Child of God, I write these words because we all experience sadness, we all come at times to despair, and we all lose hope that the suffering in our lives and in the world will ever end. I want to share with you my faith and my understanding that this suffering can be transformed and redeemed. There is no such thing as a totally hopeless case. Our God is an expert at dealing with chaos, with brokenness, with all the worst that we can imagine. God created order out of disorder, cosmos out of chaos, and God can do so always, can do so now–in our personal lives and in our lives as nations, globally. … Indeed, God is transforming the world now–through us–because God loves us.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“If you want to keep people subjugated, the last thing you place in their hands is a Bible. There’s nothing more radical, nothing more revolutionary, nothing more subversive against injustice and oppression than the Bible.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“We are not responsible for what breaks us, but we can be responsible for what puts us back together again. Naming the hurt is how we begin to repair our broken parts.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“We are fragile creatures, and it is from this weakness, not despite it, that we discover the possibility of true joy.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“What about evil, you may ask? Aren’t some people just evil, just monsters, and aren’t such people just unforgivable? I do believe there are monstrous and evil acts, but I do not believe those who commit such acts are monsters or evil. To relegate someone to the level of monster is to deny that person’s ability to change and to take away that person’s accountability for his or her actions and behavior.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Life is more than breath and a heartbeat; meaning and purpose are the life of life.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“We are always at our best when compassion enables us to recognize the unique pressures and singular stories of the people on the other side of our conflicts.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“To forgive is not just to be altruistic.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“My message to the international community is that our silence and complicity especially on the situation in Gaza shames us all. It is almost like the behaviour of the military junta in Burma” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“When I feel ashamed, it means I feel there isn’t just something wrong with what I’ve done, there is something wrong with who I am. Shame is often a hidden emotion and it can be paralyzing in its power.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“True peace must be anchored in justice and an unwavering commitment to universal rights for all humans, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, national origin or any other identity attribute.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“One of the most blasphemous consequences of injustice, especially racist injustice, is that it can make a child of God doubt that he or she is a child of God.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“A very important but difficult piece of renewing relationships is accepting responsibility for our part in any conflict. If we have a relationship in need of repair, we must remember that the wrong is not usually all on one side, and we are more easily able to restore relations when we look at our contribution to a conflict.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“I wish I could shut up, but I can’t, and I won’t.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Discovering more joy does not, save us from the inevitability of hardship and heartbreak. In fact, we may cry more easily, but we will laugh more easily too. Perhaps we are just more alive. Yet as we discover more joy, we can face suffering in a way that ennobles rather than embitters. We have hardship without becoming hard. We have heartbreaks without being broken.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Dear Child of God, I am sorry to say that suffering is not optional.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“We are made for loving. If we don’t love, we will be like plants without water.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter — you are just there in front of the fire. You don’t have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“In the end what matters is not how good we are but how good God is. Not how much we love Him but how much He loves us. And God loves us whoever we are, whatever we’ve done or failed to do, whatever we believe or can’t.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“We learn from history that we don’t learn from history!” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“We are made for goodness. We are made for love. We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness. We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know. We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders. All are welcome: black, white, red, yellow, rich, poor, educated, not educated, male, female, gay, straight, all, all, all. We all belong to this family, this human family, God’s family.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“It is through weakness and vulnerability that most of us learn empathy and compassion and discover our soul.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“There is nothing more difficult than waking someone who is only pretending to be asleep.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Our maturity will be judged by how well we are able to agree to disagree and yet continue to love one another, to care for one another, and cherish one another and seek the greater good of the other.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“It always comes back to our insecurities, as we say, “Oh, I’m not as good as you.” So instead of accepting that perhaps I am not as good as someone else in some ways and being comfortable with who I am as I am, I spend all my time denigrating you, trying to cut you down to my self-perceived size. The sad problem is that we see ourselves as being quite terribly small. Instead of spending my time being envious, I need to celebrate yours and my different gifts, even if mine are perhaps less spectacular than yours.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Much depends on your attitude. If you are filled with negative judgment and anger, then you will feel separate from other people. You will feel lonely. But if you have an open heart and are filled with trust and friendship, even if you are physically alone, even living a hermit’s life, you will never feel lonely.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Forgiveness is truly the grace by which we enable another person to get up, and get up with dignity, to begin anew. To not forgive leads to bitterness and hatred. Like self-hatred and self-contempt, hatred of others gnaws away at our vitals. Whether hatred is projected out or stuffed in, it is always corrosive to the human spirit.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Giving the emotion a name is the way we come to understand how what happened affected us. After we’ve told the facts of what happened, we must face our feelings. We are each hurt in our own unique ways, and when we give voice to this pain, we begin to heal it.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“God is not a Christian.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Renewing a relationship is a creative act. We make a new relationship. It is possible to build a new relationship regardless of the realities of the old relationship.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“… freedom translates into having a supply of clean water, having electricity on tap; being able to live in a decent home and have a good job; to be able to send your children to school and to have accessible healthcare. I mean what’s the point of having made this transition if the quality of life … is not enhanced and improved? If not, the vote is useless.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Despair can come from deep grief, but it can also be a defense against the risks of bitter disappointment and shattering heartbreak. Resignation and cynicism are easier, more self-soothing postures that do not require raw vulnerability and tragic risk of hope. To choose hope is to step firmly forward into the howling wind, baring one’s chest to the elements, knowing that, in time, the storm will pass.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Healing means that our dignity is restored and we are able to move forward in our lives.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“We shall be free only together, black and white. We shall survive only together, black and white. We can be human only together, black and white.”― Desmond Tutu Quote

“This is what healing demands. Behavior that is hurtful, shameful, abusive, or demeaning must be brought into the fierce light of truth, and truth can be brutal.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“in the sentiment of Mahatma Gandhi, when we practice the law of an eye for an eye, we all end up blind.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Once you have been able to forgive, the final step is to either renew or release the relationship you have with the one who has harmed you. Indeed, even if you never speak to the person again, even if you never see them again, even if they are dead, they live on in ways that affect your life profoundly.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“There will be no future unless there is peace. There can be no peace unless there is reconciliation. But there can be no reconciliation before there is forgiveness. And there can be no forgiveness unless people repent.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Symptoms of chronic stress are feelings of fragmentation and of chasing after time – of not being able to be present. What we are looking for is a settled, joyful state of being, and we need to give this state space. The Archbishop once told me that people often think he needs time to pray and reflect because he is a religious leader. He said those who must live in the marketplace – business people, professionals and workers – need it even more.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“We prayed earnestly that God would bless our land and would confound the machinations of the children of darkness. There had been so many moments in the past, during the dark days of apartheid’s vicious awfulness, when we had preached, “This is God’s world and God is in charge!” Sometimes, when evil seemed to be on the rampage and about to overwhelm goodness, one had held on to this article of faith by the skin of one’s teeth. It was a kind of theological whistling in the dark and one was frequently tempted to whisper in God’s ear, “For goodness’ sake, why don’t You make it more obvious that You are in charge?” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“My first point seems overwhelmingly simple: that the accidents of birth and geography determine to a very large extent to what faith we belong.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“It is a remarkable feat to be able to see past the inhumanity of the behavior and recognize the humanity of the person committing the atrocious acts. This is not weakness. This is heroic strength, the noblest strength of the human spirit.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“People are not born hating each other and wishing to cause harm. It is a learned condition.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“You have stood at this junction before You will stand at this junction again And if you pause you can ask yourself Which way to turn You can turn away from your own sadness And run the race named revenge You will run that tired track again and again Or you can admit your own pain And walk the path that ends In this direction lies freedom, my friend I can show you where hope and wholeness make their homes But you can’t push past your anguish on your way there To find the path to peace You will have to meet your pain And speak its name” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“The way to understand any enemy is to realize that, from his perspective, he is not a villain but a hero.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“When God grabs you by the scruff of the neck then although theoretically you have a freedom to say ‘no’, in another sense, actually, you can’t say no because it’s like Jeremiah. ‘God, you have cheated me. You called me to be a prophet against the people that I love, and all that I proclaim is words of doom and judgement.’ And yet if I say “I will shut up”, I can’t.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“I would like to share with you two simple truths: there is nothing that cannot be forgiven, and there is no one un-deserving of forgiveness.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“When we ignore the pain, it grows bigger and bigger, and like an abscess that is never drained, eventually it will rupture. When that happens, it can reach into every area of our lives—our health, our families, our jobs, our friendships, our faith, and our very ability to feel joy may be diminished by the fallout from resentments, anger, and hurts that are never named.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“To treat anyone as if they were less than human, less than a brother or a sister, no matter what they have done, is to contravene the very laws of our humanity.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“God is not a diversion.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“There is a certain kind of dignity we admire, and to which we aspire, in the person who refuses to meet anger with anger, violence with violence, or hatred with hatred.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“It may be a procession of faithful failures that enriches the soil of godly success. Faithful actions are not religious acts. They are not even necessary actions undertaken by people of faith. Faithful actions, whether they are marked by success or they end in failure, are actions that are compelled by goodness.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“But suffering from a life-threatening disease also helped me have a different attitude and perspective. It has given a new intensity to life, for I realize how much I used to take for granted-the love and devotion of my wife, the laughter and playfulness of my grandchildren, the glory of a splendid sunset, the dedication of my colleagues. The disease has helped me acknowledge my own mortality, with deep thanksgiving for the extraordinary things that have happened in my life, not least in recent times. What a spectacular vindication it has been, in the struggle against apartheid, to live to see freedom come, to have been involved in finding the truth and reconciling the differences of those who are the future of our nation.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“What the Dalai Lama and I are offering,” the Archbishop added, “is a way of handling your worries: thinking about others. You can think about others who are in a similar situation or perhaps even in a worse situation, but who have survived, even thrived. It does help quite a lot to see yourself as part of a greater whole.” Once again, the path of joy was connection and the path of sorrow was separation. When we see others as separate, they become a threat. When we see others as part of us, as connected, as interdependent, then there is no challenge we cannot face—together.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Though wrong gratifies in the moment, good yields its gifts over a lifetime.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Forgiveness does not relieve someone of responsibility for what they have done. Forgiveness does not erase accountability. It is not about turning a blind eye or even turning the other cheek. It is not about letting someone off the hook or saying it is okay to do something monstrous. Forgiveness is simply about understanding that every one of us is both inherently good and inherently flawed. Within every hopeless situation and every seemingly hopeless person lies the possibility of transformation.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Out of the cacophony of random suffering and chaos that can mark human life, the life artist sees or creates a symphony of meaning and order. A life of wholeness does not depend on what we experience. Wholeness depends on how we experience our lives.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone’s back.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“A person is a person through other persons. None of us comes into the world fully formed. We would not know how to think, or walk, or speak, or behave as human beings unless we learned it from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human. I am because other people are. A person is entitled to a stable community life, and the first of these communities is the family.”― Desmond Tutu Quote

“Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another.” ― Desmond Tutu Quote

“My father always used to say, “Don’t raise your voice. Improve your argument.” Good sense does not always lie with the loudest shouters, nor can we say that a large, unruly crowd is always the best arbiter of what is right.”― Desmond Tutu Quote