Desmond Tutu Quotes

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

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

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

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

Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.

Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.

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.

The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is a daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

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

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.

If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

Without forgiveness, there is no future.

We inhabit a universe that is characterized by diversity.

Freedom and work are our great teachers.

Hope is an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.

Sometimes we act as if we do not need each other. Remember that in one another you will find solace and comfort and strength and company.

Do not raise your hand to your child; it is not only cruel but also unnecessary.

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.

Fight injustice, and profit from it as well.

Those who invest in South Africa should be prepared to stay the course and not be looking for a quick exit.

To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

It is only when you move toward your enemy that you can find understanding and gain the strength to love them.

The eyes that stoop with shame are prevented from seeing the light.

Hope, nonviolence, and peaceful resistance are not only the right things to do; they are also the smart things to do.

The language of humanity has no words.

We are because we belong.

God’s dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family.

A person is a person through other persons.

We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven.

We are all inextricably connected to each other.

Children are a gift from God.

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

When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate.

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

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.

To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

You don’t look at the obituaries to see if you’re dead.

A person is a person through other persons.

Real leaders are not blinded by the trappings of power but recognize their responsibility to those they serve.

A person holding his own in an argument must distrust its righteousness.

I am not an optimist, but a prisoner of hope.

Everyone needs some light-heartedness.

We were not made to survive, but to live.

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