Desmond Tutu Quotes

Quotes about:

• 

  Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

  Desmond Tutu

  Life, Success, Peace

  FaceBook post by Desmond Tutu from Jan 04, 2014

  292 Copy 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

  Bullying, Peace, Elephants

  FaceBook post by Desmond Tutu from Jan 22, 2014

  272 Copy quote
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  Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another.

  Desmond Tutu

  Order, Differences, Different

  Desmond Tutu (2011). “God Has A Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Times”, p.76, Random House

  298 Copy 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

  Fall, Rivers, People

  348 Copy 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

  Beautiful, Inspirational Love, Gay

  345 Copy quote
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  If you want peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

  Desmond Tutu

  Life, Friendship, Peace

  237 Copy quote
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  Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.

  Desmond Tutu

  Hope, Light, Darkness

  "The Priest". Interview with Deborah Solomon, www.nytimes.com. March 4, 2010.

  229 Copy quote

• One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

  Desmond Tutu

  Country, Thinking, Ubuntu

  195 Copy 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

  Bible, Prayer, Eye

  305 Copy quote

• I can't control what happens to me, but I can control how I respond to it.

  Desmond Tutu

  Happens, I Can

  "Interview with Reverend Mpho Tutu of The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation". Interview with Maranda Pleasant, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

  27 Copy quote

• Gaza is going to test who believes in the worth of human beings.

  Desmond Tutu

  Believe, Tests, Gaza

  26 Copy 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

  Maturity, Care, Agree To Disagree

  Desmond Tutu (2011). “God Has A Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Times”, p.22, Random House

  166 Copy quote

• Africans believe in something that is difficult to render in English. We call it ubuntu, botho. It means the essence of being human. You know when it is there and when it is absent. It speaks about humaneness, gentleness, hospitality, putting yourself out on behalf of others, being vulnerable. It embraces compassion and toughness. It recognizes that my humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.

  Desmond Tutu

  Believe, Mean, Compassion

  Desmond Tutu, Naomi Tutu (1989). “The words of Desmond Tutu”, Newmarket Pr

  157 Copy quote

• My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.

  Desmond Tutu

  Inspiring, God, Freedom

  Desmond Tutu, Naomi Tutu (1989). “The words of Desmond Tutu”, Newmarket Pr

  94 Copy quote

• My father always used to say, "Don't raise your voice. Improve your argument."

  Desmond Tutu

  Morning, Father, Voice

  130 Copy quote

• Goodness is stronger than evil.
  Love is stronger than hate.
  Light is stronger than darkness.
  Life is stronger than death.
  Victory is ours through Him who loved us.

  Desmond Tutu

  Peace, Hate, Love Is

  18 Copy quote

• You are either on the side of the oppressed or on the side of the oppressor. You can't be neutral.

  Desmond Tutu

  Sides, Oppressed, Oppressors

  "Desmond Tutu is one of a rare breed" by Cath Elliott, www.theguardian.com. September 17, 2010.

  241 Copy quote

• To remain neutral in situations of injustice is to be complicit in that injustice.

  Desmond Tutu

  Injustice, Situation

  190 Copy quote

• We are all connected. What unites us is our common humanity. I don't want to oversimplify things - but the suffering of a mother who has lost her child is not dependent on her nationality, ethnicity or religion. White, black, rich, poor, Christian, Muslim or Jew - pain is pain - joy is joy.

  Desmond Tutu

  Christian, Mother, Children

  Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

  132 Copy quote

• There's no way in which you can ever win a war against terror. As long as there are conditions in many parts of the world that make people desperate: poverty, disease, ignorance, etc. I hope that we will discover soon, that we can survive, only together. We can prosper only together. And I think people are beginning to realize this, that you can't have pockets of prosperity in one part of the world and huge deserts of poverty and deprivation and think you can have a stable, secure world.

  Desmond Tutu

  War, Ignorance, Winning

  "Talk Asia" with Anjali Rao, www.cnn.com. October 24, 2007.

  244 Copy quote

• It is through weakness and vulnerability that most of us learn empathy and compassion and discover our soul.

  Desmond Tutu

  Compassion, Empathy, Soul

  97 Copy quote

• Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.

  Desmond Tutu

  Inspiring, Forgiveness, New Beginnings

  94 Copy 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

  Military, Silence, Community

  95 Copy quote

• Bringing people together is what i call 'ubuntu,' which means 'I am because we are.' Far too often people think of themselves as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

  Desmond Tutu

  Mean, Thinking, Ubuntu

  101 Copy 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

  Knowing, Ubuntu, Self

  Desmond Tutu (2012). “No Future Without Forgiveness”, p.35, Random House

  89 Copy quote

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