When we speak of ‘racism’, many prominent leaders come to our mind. One such personality is Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He came under the limelight during the 1980s apartheid movement in South Africa. He was a great opponent of the Apartheid, and has been active in the defense of human rights and still fights for the rights of the oppressed. He is a recipient of Nobel Peace Prize, Gandhi Peace Prize, Sydney Peace Prize and Presidential Medal of Freedom. In his four decades of public life, Desmond Tutu has been quite vocal on several issues close to his heart. He has expressed his thoughts through his speeches, quotes, writings, columns and books, which include homosexuality and the Church, fashion, reconciliation, justice, apartheid, and sanctions. The quotes contained in his writings and speeches reflect his thoughts on these issues. Here is a selection of some of his memorable quotes on a range of topics.
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
We learn from history that we don't learn from history!
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
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
Though wrong gratifies in the moment, good yields its gifts over a lifetime.
Desmond Tutu
There is nothing more difficult than waking someone who is only pretending to be asleep.
Desmond Tutu
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
A person is a person because s/he recognizes others as persons.
Desmond Tutu
There is something in us that refuses to be regarded as less than human. We are created for freedom
Desmond Tutu
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.
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.
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.
People are not born hating each other and wishing to cause harm. It is a learned condition.
Desmond Tutu
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
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
Healing means that our dignity is restored and we are able to move forward in our lives.
Desmond Tutu
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.
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
Do not heal in isolation. Connecting with others is how we develop compassion for others and for ourselves.
Desmond Tutu
In our own ways, we are all broken. Out of that brokenness, we hurt others. Forgiveness is the journey we take toward healing the broken parts. It is how we become whole again.
Desmond Tutu
In the sentiment of Mahatma Gandhi, when we practice the law of an eye for an eye, we all end up blind.
Desmond Tutu
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.
The quality of human life on our planet is nothing more than the sum total of our daily interactions with one another. Each time we help, and each time we harm, we have a dramatic impact on our world.
Order to truly forgive oneself, one must either explicitly or implicitly acknowledge that one’s behavior was wrong and accept responsibility or blame for such behavior.
Desmond Tutu
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
It is small comfort to a mouse, if an elephant is standing on its tail, to say 'I am impartial.' In this instance, you are really supporting the elephant in its cruelty.
Somewhere deep inside us we seem to know that we are destined for something better than strife.
Desmond Tutu
It is true that when we harm others, we harm ourselves; but it is just as true that when we help others, we also help ourselves.
Desmond Tutu
Forgiveness is nothing less than the way we heal the world. We heal the world by healing each and every one of our hearts. The process is simple, but it is not easy.
