“Exclusion is never the way forward on our shared paths to freedom and justice.”
Freedom
“But God can only smile because only God can know what is coming next.”
GodAll Quotes by Desmond Tutu
“In many ways, when you're a Nobel peace laureate, you have an obligation to humankind, to society.”
Peace“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.”
History“The minute you got the Nobel Peace Prize, things that I said yesterday, with nobody paying too much attention, I say the same things after I got it - oh! It was quite crucial for people, and it helped our morale because apartheid did look invincible.”
Peace“God's dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.”
Family“You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.”
Family“Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.”
Forgiveness“I mean in the South African case, many of those who were part of death squads would have been respectable members of their white community, people who went to church on Sunday, every Sunday.”
Death“Peace comes when you talk to the guy you most hate. And that's where the courage of a leader comes, because when you sit down with your enemy, you as a leader must already have very considerable confidence from your own constituency.”
Courage“In God's family, there are no outsiders, no enemies.”
Family“I don't think I've ever felt that same kind of peace, the kind of serenity that I felt after acknowledging that maybe I was going to die of this TB.”
Peace“In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights.”
God“God is not upset that Gandhi was not a Christian, because God is not a Christian! All of God's children and their different faiths help us to realize the immensity of God.”
God“In its history, Europe has committed so many massacres and horrors that it should bow its own head in shame.”
History“Universal education is not only a moral imperative but an economic necessity, to pave the way toward making many more nations self-sufficient and self-sustaining.”
Education“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”
Hope“In South Africa, we could not have achieved our freedom and just peace without the help of people around the world, who through the use of non-violent means, such as boycotts and divestment, encouraged their governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the Apartheid regime.”
Freedom“I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.”
Nature“It is our moral obligation to give every child the very best education possible.”
Best“Without forgiveness, there's no future.”
Forgiveness