Quotes by Desmond Tutu

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

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

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

“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.”

“We must be ready to learn from one another, not claiming that we alone possess all truth and that somehow we have a corner on God.”

“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...”

“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...”

“All modern humans are related to what scientists call "Mitochondrial Eve." This refers to our common matrilineal ancestor. She lived approximately 200,000 years ago and depending on how you estimat...”

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

“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 experien...”

“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. Fait...”

“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”

“The fact is, rape is utterly commonplace in all our cultures. It is part of the fabric of everyday life, yet we all act as if its something shocking and extraordinary whenever it hits the headlines...”

“I'm actually very humbled listening to His Holiness,' the Archbishop said, 'because I've frequently mentioned to people the fact of his serenity and his calm and joyfulness. We would probably have ...”

“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 giv...”

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

“Discovering more joy does not, save us from th 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 w...”

“We learn from history that we don't learn from history!”

“If you are neutral in times of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

“You show your humanity by how you see yourself not as apart from others but from your connection to others.”