Desmond Tutu: Trending quotes

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Desmond Tutu: 170 quotes33 likes

“There are different kinds of justice. Retributive justice is largely Western. The African understanding is far more restorative - not so much to punish as to redress or restore a balance that has been knocked askew.”

Desmond Tutu

As quoted in " Recovering from Apartheid http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1996/11/18/1996_11_18_086_TNY_CARDS_000375852" at The New Yorker (18 November 1996)

“It was relatively easy, we now realize, to categorize countries and nations. You knew who your enemies were and whom you could count on as collaborators and friends. And even more importantly, you had ready-made scapegoats to take the blame when things were going wrong.”

Desmond Tutu

Speech entitled Freedom and Tolerance (June 1995), Cape Town Press Club

“You and I are created for transcendence, laughter, caring. God deliberately did not make the world perfect, for God is looking for you and me to be fellow workers with God.”

Desmond Tutu

Wallenberg Lecture (2008)

“Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are.”

Desmond Tutu

As quoted in "The Words of Desmond Tutu" (1984)

“The U. N. is as effective as its member states allow it to be.”

Desmond Tutu

This is actually a common observation, which has been made by many people, and thus far no published source has been found attributing it to Tutu. The earliest published variant thus far found was in Public Affairs Vol. 21 (1978) by the Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs, p. 102:<br>: The United Nations is an inter-governmental body. It is made up of member states, and it can only be as effective as its member states allow it to be.<br>A variant was also prominent in Ch. 6 of the Preventing Deadly Conflict : Final Report (1997) by the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict http://wwics.si.edu/subsites/ccpdc/pubs/rept97/finfr.htm:<br>: The main responsibility for addressing global problems, including deadly conflict, rests on governments. Acting individually and collectively, they have the power to work toward solutions or to hinder the process. The UN, of course, is only as effective as its member states allow it to be. <br class="br">Misattributed

“We refuse to be treated as the doormat for the government to wipe its jackboots on.”

Desmond Tutu

As quoted in "Profile: Archbishop Desmond Tutu" at BBC (24 May 2004)

“We in South Africa had a relatively peaceful transition. If our madness could end as it did, it must be possible to do the same everywhere else in the world. If peace could come to South Africa, surely it can come to the Holy Land.”

Desmond Tutu

Speech in Boston (2002)

“What has happened to us? It seems as if we have perverted our freedom, our rights into license, into being irresponsible. Perhaps we did not realise just how apartheid has damaged us so that we seem to have lost our sense of right and wrong.”

Desmond Tutu

As quoted in " Desmond Tutu turns 75 http://www.news24.com/World/News/Desmond-Tutu-turns-75-20061006" at News24 (6 October 2006)

“Without forgiveness there can be no future for a relationship between individuals or within and between nations.”

Desmond Tutu

As quoted in "Truth and reconciliation" at BBC Focus on Africa (January-March 2000)

“Resentment and anger are bad for your blood pressure and your digestion.”

Desmond Tutu

As quoted in "Truth and reconciliation" at BBC Focus on Africa (January-March 2000)

“Those who invest in South Africa should not think they are doing us a favor; they are here for what they get out of our cheap and abundant labor, and they should know that they are buttressing one of the most vicious systems.”

Desmond Tutu

Quoted by L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley in letter to the editor Los Angeles Times (13 May 1985)

“Whether Jews like it or not, they are a peculiar people. They can't ever hope to be judged by the same standards which are used for other people.”

Desmond Tutu

As quoted in http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Nobel-winners-problem-with-a-peculiar-people-and-Israel (June 2, 2012)

“People are scared in this country, to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful — very powerful. Well, so what? For goodness sake, this is God's world! We live in a moral universe. The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer exists. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet, Milosevic, and Idi Amin were all powerful, but in the end they bit the dust.”

Desmond Tutu

Speech in Boston (2002)

“Isn’t it desperately sad that, at a time when we face formidable problems – poverty, HIV/AIDS, conflict – that the Anglican Communion can invest so much energy on disagreements about human sexuality? A communion that used to boast that one of its distinctive characteristics was something called comprehensiveness, that our communion, the Anglican Church, included just about everybody. Even if you had the most weird theology you could come in, you were allowed. And now we, who used to be held up in admiration by many because of this inclusiveness, are now spending time working out how we can excommunicate one another. God looks on and God weeps. God weeps.”

Desmond Tutu

"And God Smiles," sermon preached at All Saints Church, Pasadena, California (6 November 2005)

“South Africa, so utterly improbably, is a beacon of hope in a dark and troubled world.”

Desmond Tutu

As quoted in "Truth and reconciliation" at BBC Focus on Africa (January-March 2000)

“We used to say to the apartheid government: you may have the guns, you may have all this power, but you have already lost. Come: join the winning side. His Holiness and the Tibetan people are on the winning side.”

Desmond Tutu

Source: As quoted in "Dalai Lama honours Tintin and Tutu" at BBC News (2 June 2006)

“God has such a deep reverence for our freedom that he'd rather let us freely go to Hell than be compelled to go to Heaven.”

Desmond Tutu

Beyers Naudé memorial lecture (15 August 2003)

“"Isn't it sad, that in a time when we face so many devastating problems – poverty, HIV/AIDS, war and conflict – that in our Communion we should be investing so much time and energy on disagreement about sexual orientation?" [The Communion, which] "used to be known for embodying the attribute of comprehensiveness, of inclusiveness, where we were meant to accommodate all and diverse views, saying we may differ in our theology but we belong together as sisters and brothers" now seems "hell-bent on excommunicating one another. God must look on and God must weep."”

Desmond Tutu

"Tutu calls on Anglicans to accept gay bishop" http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=33&idsub=128&id=2141 in Spero News (14 November 2005)

“At home in South Africa I have sometimes said in big meetings where you have black and white together: 'Raise your hands!' Then I have said: 'Move your hands,' and I've said 'Look at your hands - different colors representing different people. You are the Rainbow People of God.”

Desmond Tutu

Sermon in Tromsö, Norway (5 December 1991)

“[T]here is always the possibility of change. If it happened in South Africa, why can't it happen anywhere?”

Desmond Tutu

As quoted in "Archbishop urges battle with racism" http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-02-18/news/0202180155_1_racism-archbishop-desmond-tutu-st-sabina (18 February 2002), by Sabrina L. Miller, Chicago Tribune, Illinois